Fall Armyworm Updates in Somalia

Fall Armyworm Updates in Somalia

An Overview.

Fall Armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda), FAW, is an insect native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas. Its larval stage (photo) feeds on more than 80 plant species, including maize, rice, sorghum, millet, sugarcane, vegetable crops and cotton. FAW can cause significant yield losses if not well managed. It can have a number of generations per year and the moth can fly up to 100 km per night.

FAW is a dangerous transboundary pest with a high potential of continuing to spread due to its natural distribution capacity and trade. Farmers will need great support to sustainably manage FAW in their cropping systems through Integrated Pest Management.

Fall Armyworm in Africa.

FAW was first detected in Central and Western Africa in early 2016 (Benin, Nigeria, Sao Tome and Principe, and Togo) and in whole of mainland Southern Africa (except Lesotho and the Island States), in Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Ghana, Niger and Ethiopia, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda, and it is expected to go further. Its modality of introduction, along with its biological and ecological adaptation across Africa are still speculative. A map on page 5 shows the spread of the pest to-date.

FAW is a dangerous transboundary pest with a high potential of continuing to spread due to its natural distribution capacity and trade. Farmers will need great support to sustainably manage FAW in their cropping systems through Integrated Pest Management.

Fall Armyworm keeps spreading to larger areas within countries in sub-Saharan Africa and becomes more destructive as it feeds on more crops and different parts of crops, increasingly growing an appetite for sorghum, in addition to maize. The pest could spread to Northern Africa, Southern Europe and the Near East, warned the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

"Fall Armyworm could leave 300 million people hungry in sub-Saharan Africa, having already infested maize and sorghum fields across 44 countries in an area of more than 22 million square kilometres - the combined area of the European Union, Australia and the United States," said Hans Dreyer, Director of FAO's Plant Production and Protection Division, on the sidelines of a resource partners' meeting in Rome.

Fall Armyworm spreads in East Africa.

As millions of east African farmers seek to recover from a devastating drought, they face a new threat – the fall armyworm. The pest has been recently detected in Kenya and is suspected to have entered the country from Uganda. It is also known to be present in Burundi, Ethiopia and Rwanda.

The fall armyworm was first reported in western Kenya by farmers in March 2017, and immediately confirmed by the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service and Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation. The initial counties infested were Busia, TransNzoia, Bungoma, Uasin Gishu and Nandi.

Early 2017, the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources of Ethiopia received a report from Mizan Plant Health Clinic, which had intercepted the fall armyworm in five woredas (districs) of three zones – Bench-Maji, Kaffa and Sheka – located in southwestern Ethiopia, where early maize planting begins during January, February and March.

The Horn of Africa is already facing a regional humanitarian crisis, triggered by drought and leading to skyrocketing food insecurity, particularly among livestock-owning communities, with lives and livelihoods devastated across the region. Today, almost 18 million people in the Horn of Africa are severely food insecure as consecutive seasons of poor rainfall have led to crop failures, widespread pasture and water shortages, reduced opportunities for rural employment, increasing livestock deaths, rising food prices and rapidly diminishing access to food for poor households.

Although it is hard to know more updates about Fall Armyworm in Somalia due to lack of accurate information or data but it was officially detected and reported that this pest was already spotted in the country.

According to Ergo radio, farmers in the middle shabelle region of Hirshabelle state, tried to combat destructive Fall Armyworm crop pest, farmers were using certain traps to combat against the pest, and the traps lure the moths using synthetic compounds that mimic the natural chemicals emitted by female moths to attract male moths for mating. The traps need regular checking and the lure needs replacing every few weeks.

The equipment was provided by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which has conducted training of 12 people on installing the traps, in conjunction with the Hirshabelle State ministry of farming and irrigation. While other areas in the country are yet to be reported.

Author: 

Mohamed Osman Abdulkadir

+252616002014

mohamedshukri2@gmail.com

Mogadishu-Somalia