Other pests of maize are present in Africa which resemble to some degree the FAW. You can differentiate them by learning to identify the worms themselves at their different stages, and the type of damage they produce.
Below are different species of maize stalk borers and their life stages. The most important stem borers pests on maize are Busseola fusca, Chilo partellus and Sesamia calamistis. Busseola fusca is mostly present in the highlands, whereas Chilo partellus is widely present in the lowlands. Sesamia calamistis is present in both low and highlands.
The main differences between stem borer infestation and FAW infestation are:
the big holes left by the FAW. Generally, “big holes” as observed for FAW are not present in stemborers attacks (for both young and old larvae)
the stem borer damage is characterized by a typical dead heart which is easy to see when the maize is young (Photo Series 2D)
when stem borers larvae are getting old, they are less present in the whorl contrary to FAW; but they can be found in the maize stem, leaving holes in the stems with visible frass