KIGALI, Rwanda (PAMACC News) - Farmers across Africa are reeling under huge losses linked to the devastation by an invasive specie called Fall armyworm, also known as Spodoptera frugiperda.
With origins in Eastern, and Central North America and in South America, the caterpillar has since 2016, found its way into 44 African countries, causing significant damage to maize crops with great potential for further spread and economic damage
In sub-Saharan Africa, fall armyworm has instigated heavy losses to staple cereals, especially maize and sorghum, affecting food security and trade, thus upsetting the continent’s plan to feed itself.
The extent of the destructive influence the invasive pest wrecks on maize alone is estimated to be between USD$ 2.5 - 6.2 billion per year, destabilising the livelihoods of around 300 million people.
These and many more reasons spurred experts attending the 2018 African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF2018) which began today in Kigali, Rwanda, to deliberate and explore ways of preventing or mitigating the next outbreak in Africa.
Fall armyworm as a global issue
Setting the scene at a session on building the resilience of Africa’s agriculture against invasive species, Dr. Dennis Rangi, Director General of the Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International (CABI) identified continuing globalisation through increasing trade, travel, and transport of goods across borders as one of the factors facilitating the spread of invasive species, with increasing negative impacts.
The problem, according to him, “is global in scope and requires international cooperation to supplement the actions of governments; the private sector and organisations at national and local levels.”
The recent arrival of fall armyworm in India is a case in point. The caterpillar’s leap from Africa to India confirms the global nature of invasive species and the need for partnerships to tackle the pest.
Chief Scientist at the USAID Bureau for Food Security, Dr. Rob Bertram sees it in a different light.
To him, fall armyworm is a reminder that we live in a small world that is increasingly becoming smaller and we are more connected than ever. The answer therefore, “is more global connectedness through south-south and north-south learning; strengthening research networks; national level leadership; and a coherent regional approach to invasive species,” Dr. Bertram said.
Is Africa ready for the next outbreak?
Dr Rangi believes “a straightforward, three-pronged, internationally recognised approach to addressing the problem of invasive species, namely prevention, early detection & rapid response, and lastly control will help a great deal.”
However, transforming this approach into a reality in policy and practice remains a huge challenge in Africa as African famers usually find themselves trying to address the latest invasion, when the previous invasion is yet to be cleared.
They also lack adequate information and knowledge about preventing and detecting an invasion early enough.
To overcome these challenges, the CABI DG urged African countries to create a policy and regulatory environment that promote sustainable approaches in tackling invasive species; put in place a national invasive species strategy and action plan; and a sustainable investment plan.
Dr. May-Guri Saethre, Deputy Director General, Research for Development at International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) bemoaned the fact that the burden of handling and combating invasive species on a day-to-day manner is to a large extent left to the individual smallholders in Africa.
The way forward, according to her, lies in “working together, farmers, government, researchers and the private sector as current outbreaks are wake-up calls for firm action to protect Africa’s agriculture from the destructive impact of pest outbreaks.”
To prevent the next outbreak, technologies capable of stopping pest and disease entry into Africa by pre-emptive biological controls, horizon scanning and effective early warning systems are available and must be deployed to prevent establishment of new pest through coordinated response and eradication programmes,” Dr Saethre added.
Integrated Pest Management to the rescue?
Despite advances in technology, food production in Africa still largely lies in the hands of smallholder farmers. In the event of an outbreak of fall armyworm, their immediate and predictable response is the use of pesticides which they believe can suppress the invasive specie.
Meanwhile, environmentalists believe pesticides can be harmful, particularly to the environment as they affect non-targeted organisms like bees.
Could effective Integrated Pest Management (IPM) help Africa against fall armyworm?
The answer according to Dr. Dennis Kyetere, Executive Director of African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) is a resounding yes!
A well-defined IPM programme, according to him, usually based on prevention, monitoring, and control, offers the opportunity to eliminate or drastically reduce the use of pesticides, as well as minimise the toxicity of and exposure to any products which are used. An Africa-focused IPM will therefore utilise a variety of methods and techniques, including cultural, biological and structural strategies to control a multitude of pest problems including fall armyworm,” Dr. Kyetere said.
IPM is a broad-based approach that integrates practices for economic control of pests while aiming to suppress pest populations below the economic injury level (EIL).
The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) defines IPM as "the careful consideration of all available pest control techniques and subsequent integration of appropriate measures that discourage the development of pest populations and keep pesticides and other interventions to levels that are economically justified and reduce or minimize risks to human health and the environment.”
IPM emphasizes the growth of a healthy crop with the least possible disruption to agro-ecosystems and encourages natural pest control mechanisms.
Fall armyworm as an opportunity for Africa
In all, the experts were of the view that tackling fall armyworm in Africa requires a cocktail of solutions which does not exclude any of the aforementioned ideas but comprises enabling policy environment, science and evidence-based framework, research and development that encourages private sector investment, local knowledge sharing, information dissemination and surveillance.
The forum also agreed substantially with the Director General of the Rwandan Agriculture Board, Dr. Patrick Karangwa in his assertion that for Africa to feed itself, “agriculture must now be knowledge-intensive and technology-intensive.”
Indeed, the the presence of fall armyworm in Africa is both a crisis and an opportunity
as a crisis is a terrible thing to waste – will Africa seize the opportunity?
KIGALI, Rwanda (PAMACC News) - An international research organisation has called for urgent action to tackle the global spread of invasive species, which they say is a major threat to sustainable development.
The Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International (CABI) has called on counties to ensure that they have national invasive species strategies and action plans in place by 2020 including a national priority list identifying their highest outbreak risks and targeting national efforts accordingly.
“We are falling behind, and progress is currently too slow to achieve the ambitious targets set by the international community,” said Dr Dennis Rangi, the CABI’s Director General for Development.
“If we do not accelerate progress on these critical issues, further outbreaks cannot be prevented,” He told journalists on September 6 at the 2018 Africa Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) in Kigali, Rwanda.
An invasive species is a plant, weed, worm or any other species that is not native to a specific location, and that has a tendency to spread to a degree believed to cause damage to the environment, human economy or human health.
The fall armyworm is the most important invasive species in 40 African countries and Asia where it has caused untold losses particularly for maize farmers. Known scientifically as, Spodoptera frugiperda, the caterpillar originates in Central and South America. It was first identified in West Africa in January 2016, and has since moved to nearly all African countries.
In East Africa, Prosopis juliflora (known in Kenya as Mathenge) is another invasive species that is devastating goat farmers especially in dryland areas. The shrub produces pods that are too sugary, and when goats feed on them, the sugar content affects the teeth, forcing them to fall off.
Opuntia megacantha is another invasive species in form of cactus. The fruits have sharp thorns, and when livestock animals feed on them, the thorns remain pierced all over in the mouth, in the gums and on the tongue, making it impossible for the animal to feed again. This eventually leads to death of affected animal due to starvation.
And now, CABI has launched an Action on Invasives programme to enable developing countries to prevent or detect and control invasive species in order to protect and restore agricultural and natural ecosystems, reduce crop losses, improve health, remove trade barriers and reduce degradation of natural resources.
The research organisation is also calling on governments to prioritise investment in tackling invasive species and also to develop policy/regulations that will encourage the use of lower risk management methods (biocontrol, Integrated Pest Management (IPM).
The Action on Invasives programme has already been piloted on specific species in Ghana and Pakistan, with support and funding from the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) and the Netherlands’ Directorate-General for International Cooperation (DGIS). It is now being scaled up so that people around the world can fulfil their potential and help their countries prosper.
It is estimated that the fall armyworm in Africa has the potential to cause maize yield losses of up to 20.6 million tonnes per annum in just 12 of Africa’s maize-producing countries. This represents nearly 53% of annual production. The value of these losses is estimated to be up to US$6.2 billion. This despite the fact that maize is the most important staple cereal crop grown by smallholders in sub-Saharan Africa and is the dominant cereal grown in most other African countries.
KIGALI, Rwanda (PAMACC News) - An international research organisation has called for urgent action to tackle the global spread of invasive species, which they say is a major threat to sustainable development.
The Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International (CABI) has called on counties to ensure that they have national invasive species strategies and action plans in place by 2020 including a national priority list identifying their highest outbreak risks and targeting national efforts accordingly.
“We are falling behind, and progress is currently too slow to achieve the ambitious targets set by the international community,” said Dr Dennis Rangi, the CABI’s Director General for Development.
“If we do not accelerate progress on these critical issues, further outbreaks cannot be prevented,” He told journalists on September 6 at the 2018 Africa Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) in Kigali, Rwanda.
An invasive species is a plant, weed, worm or any other species that is not native to a specific location, and that has a tendency to spread to a degree believed to cause damage to the environment, human economy or human health.
The fall armyworm is the most important invasive species in 40 African countries and Asia where it has caused untold losses particularly for maize farmers. Known scientifically as, Spodoptera frugiperda, the caterpillar originates in Central and South America. It was first identified in West Africa in January 2016, and has since moved to nearly all African countries.
In East Africa, Prosopis juliflora (known in Kenya as Mathenge) is another invasive species that is devastating goat farmers especially in dryland areas. The shrub produces pods that are too sugary, and when goats feed on them, the sugar content affects the teeth, forcing them to fall off.
Opuntia megacantha is another invasive species in form of cactus. The fruits have sharp thorns, and when livestock animals feed on them, the thorns remain pierced all over in the mouth, in the gums and on the tongue, making it impossible for the animal to feed again. This eventually leads to death of affected animal due to starvation.
And now, CABI has launched an Action on Invasives programme to enable developing countries to prevent or detect and control invasive species in order to protect and restore agricultural and natural ecosystems, reduce crop losses, improve health, remove trade barriers and reduce degradation of natural resources.
The research organisation is also calling on governments to prioritise investment in tackling invasive species and also to develop policy/regulations that will encourage the use of lower risk management methods (biocontrol, Integrated Pest Management (IPM).
The Action on Invasives programme has already been piloted on specific species in Ghana and Pakistan, with support and funding from the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) and the Netherlands’ Directorate-General for International Cooperation (DGIS). It is now being scaled up so that people around the world can fulfil their potential and help their countries prosper.
It is estimated that the fall armyworm in Africa has the potential to cause maize yield losses of up to 20.6 million tonnes per annum in just 12 of Africa’s maize-producing countries. This represents nearly 53% of annual production. The value of these losses is estimated to be up to US$6.2 billion. This despite the fact that maize is the most important staple cereal crop grown by smallholders in sub-Saharan Africa and is the dominant cereal grown in most other African countries.
NAIROBI, Kenya (PAMACC News) - Participants at the Global Landscape Forum (GLF) Nairobi 2018 have reignited the drive to restore at least 12 million hectares annually simply to reach land degradation neutrality.
Speakers from across Africa discussed their experiences and successes restoring forests, farms and coastlines for sustainable development, climate mitigation and adaptation.
“Unless urgent and concerted action is taken, land degradation will worsen in the face of population growth, unprecedented consumption, an increasingly globalized economy and climate change,” said Robert Nasi, Director General of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR). “We must restore at least 12 million hectares annually simply to reach land degradation neutrality. And if we want to rectify errors from the past, then we need to run twice as fast.”
Degraded landscapes each year cost 10 percent of the global economy, affecting the livelihoods and wellbeing of some 3 billion people across the world, many in developing countries. The global landscapes community aims to restore more than 2 billion hectares of degraded land worldwide – a footprint larger than South America. For progress to take place, the private and public sectors must invest $350 billion annually.
“We have the necessary technical knowledge to restore landscapes; what is missing is stronger political commitment and better rural governance,” said Stefan Schmitz of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. “This includes decentralizing decision-making, administrative capacities and financial resources; putting in place adequate territorial and tenure policies.”
Initiatives big and small, from the AFR100 to local efforts such as mangrove restoration, are demonstrating the potential for greater agricultural yields, ecosystem services and climate protection. At the same time, now is the time to convert commitments to restore hundreds of millions of hectares of land into action by involving communities, women and youth, the speakers said.
“In a degraded landscape, if a woman doesn’t have the firewood, it will be difficult for her to get the water,” said Mukasa. “We managed to bring together six communities using an adaptive collaborative management approach. That vision is over restoration of degraded landscapes. These communities have been able to produce community trees.”
UN Environment Executive Director, Erik Solheim, reiterated his support for a U.N. decade devoted to promoting the rehabilitation of degraded, damaged and destroyed ecosystems to help speed up the race against climate change and biodiversity loss. He urged participants to support the proposal for a U.N. Decade for Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030, which was first floated by El Salvador.
“Ecosystem restoration can counter climate change, poverty and biodiversity loss,” said Solheim. “A U.N. Decade for Ecosystem Restoration would give us an opportunity to accelerate restoration action and UN Environment supports El Salvador and the many other countries who are champions of this idea.”
GLF Nairobi 2018 also held discussions about ‘The Great Green Wall for the Sahara and Sahel Initiative’, and there was a launch of a documentary and a concert by musician Rocky Dawuni.
