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IPM Innovation Lab and the Fall Armyworm

IPM Innovation Lab works to combat the Fall Armyworm

Fall armyworm
The fall armyworm attacks hundreds of plant species, but favors maize, a staple crop in Africa.
farmers
Laouali Amadou (left), Muni Muniappan (center), and Laouali Karimoune (right) search for the fall armyworm on sorghum in Niger.

The fall armyworm is an invasive pest that reached Africa in 2016 and Asia in 2018—resilient to harsh climates, the pest easily travels long distances and multiplies in large numbers. Currently, pesticides are being used against the fall armyworm, but not only are they expensive and a potential health hazard, the pest is beginning to develop resistance to chemicals. 

The IPM Innovation Lab, along with collaborators from the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe), have made headway on a solution that harnesses natural enemies against the fall armyworm in both its egg and larval stage. The two natural enemies are local to Africa, which will decrease the possibility of turning a non-native species into an invasive one. 

A devastating pest, the fall armyworm threatens 100 percent of maize yields, Africa’s staple crop, but feeds on nearly 300 species of crops including sorghum, cotton, and millet. The natural predators are doubly efficient, as they will help reduce caterpillar pests that attack most crops.

As the IPM Innovation Lab continues to create awareness around the fall armyworm’s damage, teams around the world are being trained on IPM management methods. In Niger, where the IPM Innovation Lab works on the biological control of the pearl millet head miner, collaborators at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) are training technicians on the mass production of natural enemies. Further, from February 24 to March 1, the Innovation Lab hosted a training workshop on biological control of the fall armyworm in Nairobi, Kenya. Participants from areas including the Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and South Sudan received training on field collection, mass rearing, and release of indigenous biological control agents of the fall armyworm, a further introduction of technology regionally. 

In the coming year, the IPM Innovation Lab plans to release the natural enemies on a mass scale in Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania.