FAO calls for more funding to combat destructive African Armyworm in East Africa

Naivasha, Friday, June 9, 2023

KNA by Erastus Gichohi

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has called for more financial support from six East African countries to scale up the management of outbreaks and infestation of the destructive and migratory African Armyworm.

FAO said revamped survey and early management of the African Armyworm which is a transboundary insect pest is needed to guarantee food security and nutrition within member countries.

The United Nations backed organisation said strengthened collaboration among regional governments within East African countries will enhance capacities on the survey, early warnings, control and reporting of the African Armyworm.

According to FAO representative in Kenya Carla Mucavi, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan and Eritrea are currently facing the destructive pest.

Mucavi said that the horn of Africa and especially Kenya has experienced five successive seasons of depressed rains which creates a conducive environment for a potential outbreak with the ongoing rain season.

Mucavi said the African Armyworm has reemerged in the region after 21 years due to the adverse effects of climate change which is favouring population dynamics of the pest.

“The worm is already posing a threat to food security in the region by causing damage to pasture and major food crops that include maize, millet, sorghum, rice, wheat, teff and barley,” said Mucavi.

She said that the worm which strikes during a rainy season following a prolonged period of drought which the region has experienced is a wakeup call for governments to act through timely and effective interventions.

Mucavi said FAO has pumped more than Sh69 million towards training and equipping extension workers and selected farmers from the six countries with skills to enhance timely monitoring and reporting of the pest.

FAO, Mucavi said, has developed a Fall Armyworm Monitoring and Early Warning System to facilitate responsive and real time data capture, monitoring and reporting of the migratory pests.

Mucavi said additional financial and human resources from involved parties will enhance surveillance, monitoring, early warning systems, control and reporting for effective African Armyworm management.

Speaking in Naivasha during the launch of training of trainers to manage the pest, Mucavi said FAO will also establish Community Based Armyworm Monitoring and Forecasting systems to scale down monitoring of the pests at the local level.

In Kenya, the pests are currently present in 23 counties with poor smallholder farmers being the most vulnerable to severe economic loss due to insufficient resources to manage the invasion of the worm on time.

On his part, Xia Jianyuan, FAO Director for Plant and Food Production Division said sustainable management of the African Armyworm will help countries to avert the threat to food security occasioned by the destructive pests.

The director who addressed the forum virtually, said community based early warning and monitoring systems will enable real time reporting to inform immediate interventions to manage the pest’s invasion.

Courtesy ; K. N. A