Category Archives: Fall Armyworm

Spraying insecticides early in the crop cycle are most likely to kill off the natural enemies and may not be economical. The policy by some governments to give away pesticides to maize farmers to combat FAW or to organize spraying squads may be starting smallholder maize farmers on a pesticide treadmill that may well have negative […]

Some pesticides survive in the environment longer than others and do not breakdown for a considerable period of time. They can be transported by water and air over long distances. This ability is called“persistence”. Persistent pesticides tend to bioaccumulate in animals and humans and thus biomagnify (i.e. they concentrate as they move from one trophic […]

FAO has received various indications that the following highly hazardous pesticides have been used or recommended for use to control Fall Armyworm in African countries: In addition, the use of pyrethroids and neonicotinoids has been reported to control Fall Armyworm. It should be noted that resistance development though the use of pyrethroids is a concern […]

The use of highly hazardous pesticides (HHPs) to control Fall Armyworm (FAW) has been reported in several African countries. Under the conditions of use prevailing in these countries, HHPs pose great concerns for human health and the environment. It should be noted that: FAO has been mandated by the Council in 2006 and again in […]

Some pesticides are more toxic than others. In technical terms, pesticides that have a high acute or chronic toxicity, or hazard to the environment are called highly hazardous pesticides.6 Under the current prevailing condition of use in African countries, it is advisable to primarily avoid the use of highly hazardous pesticides. Fortunately, only a relatively small […]

What are pesticides? Pesticides are substances used to kill or repel insects, diseases, plants, animals (rats, mice…) and other living organisms which are invasive, harmful and cause damage and therefore are considered to be pests.Pesticides are however also toxic to people and non-target organisms, and pollute the environment. Their handling, use and disposal always require special […]

In addition to conservation biological control (relying on and protecting the natural enemies which are locally present, as explained above), other approaches include for instance classical biological control(importing natural enemies from elsewhere and establishing them in farmers fields) and augmentative biological control (supplementing the numbers of naturally-occurring natural enemies with releases of natural enemies reared in labs or collected in […]

In this category you find natural enemies that kill one or several individuals of FAW during their life time either as larvae or adults. In this case, eggs, caterpillars, pupae or adult FAW are considered as preys. Usually predators are non-selective or generalists, thus they feed opportunistically on more than one host species, sometimes even […]

Naturally-occurring bio-control agents The Fall Armyworm has many naturally-occurring ‘natural enemies’ or ‘farmers’ friends’. These biological control agents are organisms that feed on FAW. In the Americas, and probably in Africa, these natural enemies can be active during all development phases of FAW, i.e. in the egg, larval, pupal and adult stage. Natural enemies have the […]

A very important management option for smallholder farmers in Africa, based on the experience of smallholders in the Americas, is to visit their fields regularly, and crush egg masses and young larvae*(“use your fingers, not pesticides”). Farmers should visit fields twice a week during vegetative stage, especially in periods of heavy oviposition by FAW, and once […]