By HAPPY MULOLANI
FALL Armyworms, is one of the most damaging invasive species in Zambia, if left unchecked, can result in low food production and insecurity. In particular, the pest affects the country’s key staple food maize.
It is estimated that 98 percent of smallholder farmers are affected by Fall Armyworms every season resulting in an economic loss in the country of about US$159million.
This backdrop provides a premise for the inception of a new project dubbed “Village-based Biological control of Fall Armyworm in Zambia,” funded by the Australian government (CIAR) and spearheaded by CABI.
Speaking during the official launch of the project, CABI Project Scientist Lena Durocher-Granger disclosed that the new project will focus on research and also reach out to 5,000 farmers on knowledge generated on low risk solutions developed during the project lifespan, noting that knowledge transfer will be key to help farmers make informed decisions on how best to address FAW.
Ministry of Agriculture Permanent Secretary Green Mbozi says fall armyworm has caused enormous damage to the country’s staple food maize, prompting Government to spend a lot of funds to curb the spread of FAW.
Mr Mbozi explained that the management of fall armyworm is mostly dependent on the use of conventional chemical pesticides, which utilises a field-by-field approach. Currently, nearly 43 percent of farmers use pesticides every season of which 9 percent use highly hazardous pesticides, some of which are listed in the Rotterdam convention.
“The excessive use of pesticides impacts on food quality, the natural environment, farming communities’ health and food safety and can lead to insecticide resistance,” Mr Mbozi said.
Zambia Agricultural Research Institute Director Ivor Mukuka said non-chemical practices are posed to effectively contribute to the Integrated Pest Management (IPM). Sadly, they are not adopted widely. This is particularly evident in developing countries, where there is lack of coordinated actions among community members. This situation has led to poor adoption levels of IPM. Coupled with that there are few biopesticides for Fall armyworm registered in Zambia. Unfortunately, the few registered are unknown to farmers.
The University of Zambia Dean of School of Agricultural Sciences Thomson Kalinde observed that the inception of the project will endeavour to tackle the FAW, which has previously seen farmers rely on synthetic pesticides which has not been effective.
“This project is well posed to achieve good results with strong collaboration with partners engaged in research interventions which provide low risk solutions aimed at addressing FAW, which has been a menace for a long time,” Prof Kalinde said.
CABI Regional Representative Southern Africa Noah Phiri explained that over the years, CABI has been working with key partners such as ZARI, GIZ, among others in executing some of its research interventions and knowledge sharing.
Dr Phiri pointed out that CABI and its partners need to seriously address the availability of technologies, which is premised on its mandate of delivering nature based solutions for management of fall armyworms.
“There is need to look at making technologies available and affordable,” said Dr Phiri.
He also mentioned that a number of trainings have been conducted as part of creating awareness on these non-chemical remedies.
“We have started training on natural remedies with partner institutions and also intend to extend training to extension officers,” Dr Phiri stated.
While CABI Senior Regional Director Africa Morris Akiri said other than providing low risk solutions for smallholder farmers in mitigating fall armyworms, market access is also key to address as most smallholder farmers have been grappling with access to potential and established markets.
“CABI is facilitating access to markets to ensure farmers not only penetrate local markets but also successfully sale to global markets for a better livelihood; thus, CABI is playing a more facilitational role both at the national and international level,” Dr Akiri disclosed.
This approach gives farmers the privilege to make informed decisions where to sale their produce to reliable markets at a premium. Often, the market pricing tends not to favour farmers, as it is mostly exploitative.
The project aims at increasing food security and safety for smallholder farmers in Zambia, by providing nature based, low risk solutions, to manage fall armyworm in maize.
It is envisaged that if successfully developed in Zambia, these methodologies could be adopted in other regions with similar agro-ecological systems affected by fall armyworm invasions, significantly magnifying the impacts of this research.-NAIS
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