Tag: pests

Participants of the Fighting Back Against Fall Armyworm trainings learning to collect field data through the Fall Armyworm Monitor web app in a farmer's field in Chauadanga, Bangladesh. (Photo: Uttam Kumar/CIMMYT)

Crowdsourced data feeds fall armyworm surveillance in Bangladesh

Written by Matthew O'Leary on March 20, 2020. Posted in Features.

Following the spread of fall armyworm, crowdsourced data is powering a web-based application to help farmers in Bangladesh stay ahead of the crop pest.

The Fall Armyworm Monitor collects population, incidence and severity data, and guides pest management decisions. The web tool relies on information gathered by farmers using smartphones in their fields.

It was developed by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in cooperation with Bangladesh’s Department of Agricultural Extension, through the Fighting Back Against Fall Armyworm project, supported by USAID and Michigan State University.

When a foreign caterpillar first munched through Muhammad Hasan Ali’s maize field during the winter 2018-2019 season, he was stumped as to what it was or how to manage it. All he knew was his harvest and the investment he made in growing his crop was at risk.

“I’d never seen this type of insect in previous seasons, but I soon learned from government extension workers it was the fall armyworm,” explained Hasan Ali, a farmer from rural Chuadanga, in western Bangladesh. When poorly managed, fall armyworm can significantly reduce maize productivity.

Hasan Ali asked to join a training program, where he learned how to identify, monitor and control the spread of the invasive and voracious crop pest. The training, mainly tailored to extension staff, was facilitated by CIMMYT and Bangladesh’s Department of Agricultural Extension.

Participants of the Fighting Back Against Fall Armyworm trainings learning to collect field data through the Fall Armyworm Monitor web app in a farmer’s field in Chauadanga, Bangladesh. (Photo: Uttam Kumar/CIMMYT)

Participants and instructors of the Fighting Back Against Fall Armyworm trainings participate in a field session to work with the Fall Armyworm Monitor web app in Chauadanga, Bangladesh. (Photo: Uttam Kumar/CIMMYT)

Equipped to fight the pest

Extension staff and farmers gained valuable insights into different methods of control, including management of small and large patches of insect attack.

“I learned to identify fall armyworms in my field — and how to use hand picking methods and appropriate application of insecticide for control,” said Hasan Ali.

Farmers also learned how to set up pheromone traps to monitor pest populations and to use smartphones to make data-driven integrated pest management decisions using a cloud-based monitoring platform.

Crowdsourced information on the movement of fall armyworm is essential for effectively monitoring its spread and is a pivotal step in its management, said CIMMYT Senior Scientist and Systems Agronomist Timothy Krupnik.

“Farmers in top maize growing regions are working with extension officers to monitor traps and report findings weekly by entering data into smartphones,” Krupnik said.

Pheromones are natural compounds emitted by female moths to attract males for mating. Synthetic compounds that mimic natural fall armyworm pheromones are placed in traps to lure and capture male moths, after which extension agents count moths, enter, and upload data in their districts. At the time of writing, 649 staff from the Department of Agricultural Extension are reporting weekly moth count and pest damage data.

“Pest management practices are best when they are data-driven,” Krupnik explained. “Having information on the geographical location, plant growth stage and severity of infestation provides an informed base from which appropriate decisions can be made, with the ultimate goal of reducing pesticide misuse.”

“We are also excited as the data are open-access, and we are working to share them with FAO and other partners crucial in fall armyworm response,” he added.

The Fall Armyworm Monitor gives moth count and other data at the division, district and upazilla levels. (Photo: CIMMYT)

Data for better decisions

“The website hosts real-time data and depicts them graphically and in maps depending on user’s preferences. This information — which was core to the training extension agents participated in — is key for integrated pest management strategies,” explained Mutasim Billah, CIMMYT Data Specialist and the lead developer of the application.

“The department of extension services have employed 253 officers to visit fields with handheld smart devices in 25 districts to upload data,” said Billah. “The online tool stores data entries in its server and calculates the aggregated value for division, district and sub-district level on a weekly basis, and shows the estimated values through charts and in tabular format.”

The Fall Armyworm Monitor has become an essential tool for government officials to aid farmers in managing the pest which so far has been successful, said Bijoy Krishna Halder, additional Deputy Director of Plant Protection with the Bangladesh government.

“CIMMYT’s web portal is a very efficient way to collect data from the field. Anyone can access the page to see the overall condition of infestation across the country,”said Krishna Halder. “I check the portal every week about the fall armyworm condition and now it shows that the infestation is low with the overall field conditions good.”

The pest native to the Americas has become a global menace as it has spread attacking crops through Africa, and Asia, threatening the food and economic security of smallholder farmers.

Visit the Bangladesh Fall Armyworm Monitor.

The Fall Armyworm Monitor was created as part of the new Fighting Back Against Fall Armyworm in Bangladesh project is aligned with Michigan State University’s Borlaug Higher Education for Agricultural Research and Development (BHEARD) program, which supports the long-term training of agricultural researchers in USAID’s Feed the Future priority countries.

Pests and diseases and climate change: Is there a connection?

Written by Alison Doody on February 27, 2020. Posted in Features. 4 Comments on Pests and diseases and climate change: Is there a connection?

Responsible for 80% of the food we eat and 98% of the oxygen we breathe, plants are a pillar of life on earth. But they are under threat. Up to 40 percent of food crops are lost to plant pests and diseases each year according to the FAO.

When disease outbreaks occur, the impacts can be devastating. In the 1840s, the Irish potato famine, caused by the fungal disease late blight, killed around one million people and caused another million to emigrate.

The recent invasion of desert locusts throughout the horn of Africa – the worst in decades – shows how vulnerable crops are to pests as well.

The desert locust is one of the most destructive pests in the world, with one small swarm covering one square kilometer eating the same amount of food per day as 35,000 people. The outbreak could even provoke a humanitarian crisis, according to the FAO.

How does climate change affect pests and diseases?

Climate change is one factor driving the spread of pests and diseases, along with increasing global trade. Climate change can affect the population size, survival rate and geographical distribution of pests; and the intensity, development and geographical distribution of diseases.

Temperature and rainfall are the big drivers of shifts in how and where pests and diseases spread, according to experts.

“In general, an increase in temperature and precipitation levels favors the growth and distribution of most pest species by providing a warm and humid environment and providing necessary moisture for their growth,” says Tek Sapkota, agricultural systems and climate change scientist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).

However, when temperatures and precipitation levels get too high, this can slow the growth and reproduction of some pest species and destroy them by washing their eggs and larvae off the host plant, he explains.

This would explain why many pests are moving away from the tropics towards more temperate areas. Pests like warmer temperatures – but up to a point. If it is too hot or too cold, populations grow more slowly. Since temperate regions are not currently at the optimal temperature for pests, populations are expected to grow more quickly in these areas as they warm up.

Crop diseases are following a similar pattern, particularly when it comes to pathogens like fungi.

Movement towards the earth’s poles

Research shows that since 1960, crop pests and diseases have been moving at an average of 3 km a year in the direction of the earth’s north and south poles as temperatures increase.

Tar spot, a fungal disease native to Latin America, which can cause up to 50% of yield losses in maize, was detected for the first time in the US in 2015. Normally prevalent in tropical climates, the disease has started emerging in non-tropical regions, including highland areas of Central Mexico and many counties in the US.

Maize-producing counties in the USA vulnerable to tar spot complex (TSC) calculated based on climate similarity. Khondoker Mottaleb et al. 2018

The southern pine beetle, one of the most destructive insects invading North America, is moving north as temperatures rise and is likely to spread throughout northeastern United States and into southeastern Canada by 2050.

Wheat stem rust was reported by the Greeks and Romans, and the latter sacrificed to the gods to avoid disease outbreaks on their wheat crops. Photo: CIMMYT/Petr Kosina

Wheat rusts, which are among the greatest threats to wheat production around the world, are also adapting to warmer climates and becoming more aggressive in nature, says Mandeep Randhawa, CIMMYT wheat breeder and wheat rust pathologist.

“As temperatures rise, larger quantities of spores are produced that can cause further infection and could potentially result in pathogenic changes through faster rate of their evolution.”

Scientists recently reported that stem rust had emerged in the UK for the first time in 60 years. Climate changes over the past 25 years are likely to have encouraged conditions for infection, according to the study.

Rising CO2 levels

Rising carbon dioxide (CO2) levels could also affect pests indirectly, by changing the architecture of their host plant and weakening its defenses.

“Elevated CO2 concentrations, as a result of human activity and influence on climate change, will most likely influence pests indirectly through the modification in plant chemistry, physiology and nutritional content,” says Leonardo Crespo, CIMMYT wheat breeder.

Rising CO2 concentrations and temperatures could also provide a more favorable environment for pathogens like fungi, reports the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Despite high confidence among scientists that climate change will cause an increase in pests and diseases, predicting exactly when and where pests and diseases will spread is no easy task. There is significant variation between different species of pests and types of pathogens, and climate models can only provide estimates of where infection or outbreaks might occur.

Keeping pests and disease pandemics at bay

To address these uncertainties, experts increasingly recognize the need to monitor pest and disease outbreaks and have called for a global surveillance system to monitor these and improve responses.

Recent technological tools like the suitcase-sized mobile lab MARPLE, which tests pathogens such as wheat rust in near real-time and gives results within 48 hours, allow for early detection. Early warning systems are also crucial tools to warn farmers, researchers and policy makers of potential outbreaks.

Breeding pest- and disease-resistant varieties is another environmentally friendly solution, since it reduces the need for pesticides and fungicides. Collaborating with scientists worldwide, CIMMYT works on developing wheat and maize varieties resistant to diseases, including Fusarium Head Blight (FHB), wheat rust, wheat blast for wheat and maize lethal necrosis (MLN) for maize.

A ladybug (or ladybird) beetle sits on a wheat spike of an improved variety growing in the field in Islamabad, Pakistan. Photo credit: A. Yaqub/CIMMYT.

Beneficial insects can also act as a natural pest control for crops. Ladybugs, spiders and dragonflies act as natural predators for pests like aphids, caterpillars and stem borers. Other solutions include mechanical control measures such as light traps, pheromone traps and sticky traps, as well as farming practice controls such as crop rotation.

The United Nations has declared this year as the International Year of Plant Health, emphasizing the importance of raising global awareness on how “protecting plant health can help end hunger, reduce poverty, protect biodiversity and the environment, and boost economic development.”

As part of this initiative, CIMMYT will host the 24^th Biannual International Plant Resistance to Insects (IPRI) conference from March 2-4. The conference will cover topics including plant-insect interactions, breeding for resistance, and phenotyping technologies for predicting pest resistant traits in plants.

Cover photo: A locust swarm in north-east Kenya. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization has warned that the swarms already seen in Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia could range further afield. Photograph: Sven Torfinn/FAO

Agricultural solutions to tackle humanity’s climate crisis

Written by Mike Listman on December 3, 2019. Posted in Features.

More than 11,000 scientists signed on to a recent report showing that planet Earth is facing a climate emergency and the United Nations warned that the world is on course for a 3.2 degree spike by 2100, even if 2015 Paris Agreement commitments are met.

Agriculture, forestry, and land-use change are implicated in roughly a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Agriculture also offers opportunities to mitigate climate change and to help farmers — particularly smallholders in developing and emerging economies who have been hardest hit by hot weather and reduced, more erratic rainfall.

Most of CIMMYT’s work relates to climate change, helping farmers adapt to shocks while meeting the rising demand for food and, where possible, reducing emissions.

Family farmer Geofrey Kurgat (center) with his mother Elice Tole (left) and his nephew Ronny Kiprotich in their 1-acre field of Korongo wheat near Belbur, Nukuru, Kenya. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)

Climate-resilient crops and farming practices

53 million people are benefiting from drought-tolerant maize. Drought-tolerant maize varieties developed using conventional breeding provide at least 25% more grain than other varieties in dry conditions in sub-Saharan Africa — this represents as much as 1 ton per hectare more grain on average. These varieties are now grown on nearly 2.5 million hectares, benefiting an estimated 6 million households or 53 million people in the continent. One study shows that drought-tolerant maize can provide farming families in Zimbabwe an extra 9 months of food at no additional cost. The greatest productivity results when these varieties are used with reduced or zero tillage and keeping crop residues on the soil, as was demonstrated in southern Africa during the 2015-16 El Niño drought. Finally, tolerance in maize to high temperatures in combination with drought tolerance has a benefit at least twice that of either trait alone.

Wheat yields rise in difficult environments. Nearly two decades of data from 740 locations in more than 60 countries shows that CIMMYT breeding is pushing up wheat yields by almost 2% each year — that’s some 38 kilograms per hectare more annually over almost 20 years — under dry or otherwise challenging conditions. This is partly through use of drought-tolerant lines and crosses with wild grasses that boost wheat’s resilience. An international consortium is applying cutting-edge science to develop climate-resilient wheat. Three widely-adopted heat and drought-tolerant wheat lines from this work are helping farmers in Pakistan, a wheat powerhouse facing rising temperatures and drier conditions; the most popular was grown on an estimated 40,000 hectares in 2018.

Climate-smart soil and fertilizer management. Rice-wheat rotations are the predominant farming system on more than 13 million hectares in the Indo-Gangetic Plains of South Asia, providing food and livelihoods for hundreds of millions. If farmers in India alone fine-tuned crop fertilizer dosages using available technologies such as cellphones and photosynthesis sensors, each year they could produce nearly 14 million tons more grain, save 1.4 million tons of fertilizer, and cut CO₂-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions by 5.3 million tons. Scientists have been studying and widely promoting such practices, as well as the use of direct seeding without tillage and keeping crop residues on the soil, farming methods that help capture and hold carbon and can save up to a ton of CO₂ emissions per hectare, each crop cycle. Informed by CIMMYT researchers, India state officials seeking to reduce seasonal pollution in New Delhi and other cities have implemented policy measures to curb the burning of rice straw in northern India through widespread use of zero tillage.

Farmers going home for breakfast in Motoko district, Zimbabwe. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)

Measuring climate change impacts and savings

In a landmark study involving CIMMYT wheat physiologists and underlining nutritional impacts of climate change, it was found that increased atmospheric CO₂ reduces wheat grain protein content. Given wheat’s role as a key source of protein in the diets of millions of the poor, the results show the need for breeding and other measures to address this effect.

CIMMYT scientists are devising approaches to gauge organic carbon stocks in soils. The stored carbon improves soil resilience and fertility and reduces its emissions of greenhouse gases. Their research also provides the basis for a new global soil information system and to assess the effectiveness of resource-conserving crop management practices.

CIMMYT scientist Francisco Pinto operates a drone over wheat plots at CIMMYT's experimental station in Ciudad Obregon, Mexico. (Photo: Alfonso Cortés/CIMMYT) — CIMMYT scientist Francisco Pinto operates a drone over wheat plots at CIMMYT’s experimental station in Ciudad Obregon, Mexico. (Photo: Alfonso Cortés/CIMMYT)

Managing pests and diseases

Rising temperatures and shifting precipitation are causing the emergence and spread of deadly new crop diseases and insect pests. Research partners worldwide are helping farmers to gain an upper hand by monitoring and sharing information about pathogen and pest movements, by spreading control measures and fostering timely access to fungicides and pesticides, and by developing maize and wheat varieties that feature genetic resistance to these organisms.

Viruses and moth larvae assail maize. Rapid and coordinated action among public and private institutions across sub-Saharan Africa has averted a food security disaster by containing the spread of maize lethal necrosis, a viral disease which appeared in Kenya in 2011 and quickly moved to maize fields regionwide. Measures have included capacity development with seed companies, extension workers, and farmers the development of new disease-resilient maize hybrids.

The insect known as fall armyworm hit Africa in 2016, quickly ranged across nearly all the continent’s maize lands and is now spreading in Asia. Regional and international consortia are combating the pest with guidance on integrated pest management, organized trainings and videos to support smallholder farmers, and breeding maize varieties that can at least partly resist fall armyworm.

New fungal diseases threaten world wheat harvests. The Ug99 race of wheat stem rust emerged in eastern Africa in the late 1990s and spawned 13 new strains that eventually appeared in 13 countries of Africa and beyond. Adding to wheat’s adversity, a devastating malady from the Americas known as “wheat blast” suddenly appeared in Bangladesh in 2016, causing wheat crop losses as high as 30% on a large area and threatening to move quickly throughout South Asia’s vast wheat lands.

In both cases, quick international responses such as the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative, have been able to monitor and characterize the diseases and, especially, to develop and deploy resistant wheat varieties.

A community volunteer of an agricultural cooperative (left) uses the Plantix smartphone app to help a farmer diagnose pests in his maize field in Bardiya district, Nepal. (Photo: Bandana Pradhan/CIMMYT)

Partners and funders of CIMMYT’s climate research

A global leader in publicly-funded maize and wheat research and related farming systems, CIMMYT is a member of CGIAR and leads the South Asia Regional Program of the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS).

CIMMYT receives support for research relating to climate change from national governments, foundations, development banks and other public and private agencies. Top funders include CGIAR Research Programs and Platforms, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Mexico’s Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development (SADER), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), Cornell University, the German aid agency GIZ, the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), and CGIAR Trust Fund Contributors to Window 1 &2.

Breaking Ground: Anani Bruce guards Africa’s maize harvest from insect pests

Written by Mike Listman on August 21, 2019. Posted in Features.

Anani Bruce, maize entomologist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) since 2013, is intensively engaged in an expert partnership supporting African maize farmers’ stand against deadly insect pests, especially fall armyworm and stem borers.

A moth species native to the Americas, fall armyworm was detected in Nigeria in 2016 and in less than three years has overrun sub-Saharan Africa’s maize growing regions. At its larval stage, it feeds on leaves and ears, causing annual harvest losses whose value can exceed $6 billion.

Bruce and his colleagues are rushing to develop maize varieties that feature native genetic resistance to fall armyworm and to arm farmers with locally suited control measures. Finding and strengthening native resistance in maize against the pest is a key pillar of integrated pest management.

“The fall armyworm is so challenging that there’s no single, easy fix,” said Bruce, who earned a PhD in Entomology at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) and Kenyatta University, Kenya, in 2008. “We are testing and promoting an integrated management approach which, along with host plant resistance, includes biological control, habitat management, good agronomic practices, safe chemicals, bio-pesticides, and botanical controls.”

“The costs and complexities of such practices are daunting, but farmers can learn if you help them and there is little alternative right now, given that maize is sub-Saharan Africa’s number-one staple food,” Bruce explained.

According to the scientist, breeding is also laborious, because potentially resistant maize plants must be tested under controlled, heavy infestations of insects and this is allowed only in net houses.

“Net houses don’t provide enough room to grow the large number of maize lines needed for rapid and effective breeding progress,” Bruce said. “Even so, we have promising leads on sources of moderate resistance from maize populations developed by CIMMYT in Mexico in the 1980s-90s.”

A case of switching environments and specialties

A native of Togo, a small West African country between Benin and Ghana, Bruce said he was first interested in studying mechanical engineering but did not get the opportunity at the University of Lomé, Togo, where he did his master’s studies in agronomy. A mentor instead suggested he pursue entomology, and he followed this up at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Cotonou, Benin, where he undertook research on stem borers as a part of his master’s thesis.

“Surprisingly, I found many parallels with mechanical engineering,” said Bruce, who is based at CIMMYT’s office in Kenya. “There is a vast number and diversity of insect species and their roles and interactions in natural systems are incredibly complex, just as occurs between components in mechanical systems.”

When Bruce moved to ICIPE under the African Regional Postgraduate Program in Insect Science (ARPPIS), he needed to add English to his native French and local languages, but said his first major cultural shock was actually dietary.

“In West Africa we usually eat our maize paste with a sauce,” he explained,” but when I sat down to eat in Kenya, I found that the maize paste called ugali was eaten only with milk or meat, a combination known as nyama choma.”

Despite that and other cultural differences, Bruce said he quickly acclimatized to his new work and study setting in eastern Africa.

Nursing maize’s enemies

At CIMMYT, Bruce provides technical backstopping for national research partners to rear maize stem borers and the fall armyworm, as part of breeding improved maize varieties with insect-pest resistance and other relevant traits.

“Special expertise and conditions are required to raise, transport, and apply the eggs or young larvae properly on experimental maize plants, so that infestation levels are as uniform as possible and breeders can identify genetically resistant plants,” Bruce said.

He has also worked with gene constructs from the bacteria known as Bacillus thurigiensis (Bt). When inserted into maize, the constructs bestow the crop with resistance against stem borer species.

“We have plans to deploy Bt maize in selected countries in eastern and southern Africa, but we are awaiting the resolution of regulatory hurdles,” he explained.

Bruce credits Fritz Schulthess, former IITA and ICIPE entomologist, with providing special inspiration and support for his studies and professional development.

“Fritz believes in sharing his scientific experience with upcoming scientists and in speaking his thoughts in black and white,” Bruce said. “He is a workaholic scientist who will review your paper even past midnight and expects your response before 6 am.”

Push-pull cropping system in maize. (Figure: CIMMYT)

System uses plants to lure fall armyworm away from maize fields

Written by Rodrigo Ordóñez on June 4, 2019. Posted in News.

Climate conditions in Nepal are suitable for the establishment of fall armyworm, which could cause considerable crop loss if not managed properly. The fall armyworm is a destructive pest that has a voracious appetite for maize and other crops. Through the Nepal Seed and Fertilizer (NSAF) project, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) is working with the government of Nepal and other partners to address this imminent threat.

Chemical control of fall armyworm is too expensive and impractical for small-scale farmers, has negative human health effects, and can be a source of soil pollutants with a negative effect on biodiversity.

CIMMYT is currently evaluating the efficacy of push-pull cropping systems to control fall armyworm. Considered one of the most climate-smart technologies, push-pull systems use plant-pest ecology instead of harmful chemical insecticides to control weeds and insects. It is an environmentally friendly pest control method which is also economically viable for maize producers.

Napier grass is planted by farmers to prevent soil erosion in Kenya's Tana River Basin. (Photo: Georgina Smith/CIAT) — Napier grass is planted by farmers to prevent soil erosion in Kenya’s Tana River Basin. (Photo: Georgina Smith/CIAT)

This system involves two types of crops: Napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum) and silverleaf desmodium legume (Desmodium uncinatum).

Desmodium plants are intercropped with the rows of maize and Napier grass surrounds the maize crop. Desmodium produces volatile chemicals that repel fall armyworm moths, while the Napier grass produces chemicals that attract female moths. The resulting push-pull system takes the pest away from the maize field.

An additional benefit is that desmodium improves nitrogen fertility through biological nitrogen fixation, which may reduce nitrogen input in the long-term. Desmodium also provides ground cover for maize, controlling soil erosion and offering protection from extreme heat conditions. Both desmodium and Napier grass are excellent fodder crops for livestock.

Desmodium uncinatum pods. (Photo: Harry Rose)

Because of all these reasons, push-pull technology is highly beneficial to smallholders who are dependent on locally available inputs for their subsistence farming. It can also have a positive spiral effect on the environment.

Scientists in other regions are also looking at agro-ecological options to manage fall armyworm.

STMA meeting participants pose for a group photo during a field visit to seed company Zamseeds. (Photo: Jerome Bossuet/CIMMYT)

Shifting to a demand-led maize improvement agenda

Written by Jennifer Johnson on May 29, 2019. Posted in Features.

Partners of the Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa (STMA) project held their annual meeting May 7–9, 2019, in Lusaka, Zambia, to review the achievements of the past year and to discuss the priorities going forward. Launched in 2016, the STMA project aims to develop multiple stress-tolerant maize varieties for diverse agro-ecologies in sub-Saharan Africa, increase genetic gains for key traits preferred by the smallholders, and make these improved seeds available at scale in the target countries in partnership with local public and private seed sector partners.

The project, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), is led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), and implemented together with the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), national agricultural research systems and seed company partners in 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

The meeting was officially opened by the Deputy Director of the Zambia Agriculture Research Institute (ZARI), Monde Zulu. “Maize in Africa faces numerous challenges such as drought, heat, pests and disease. Thankfully, these challenges can be addressed through research. I would like to take this opportunity to thank CIMMYT and IITA. Your presence here is a testament of your commitment to improve the livelihoods of farmers in sub-Saharan Africa,” she said.

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and its partners are working together in the fight against challenges such as drought, maize lethal necrosis and fall armyworm. The STMA project applies innovative technologies such as high-throughput phenotyping, doubled haploids, marker-assisted breeding and intensive germplasm screening to develop improved stress-tolerant maize varieties for smallholder farmers. The project team is also strengthening maize seed systems in sub-Saharan Africa through public-private partnerships.

The efforts are paying off: in 2018, 3.5 million smallholder farmers planted stress-tolerant maize varieties in 10 African countries.

The deputy director of the Zambia Agriculture Research Institute (ZARI), Monde Zulu (fourth from left), gives the opening address of the STMA Annual Meeting 2019. Left to right: Mick Mwala, University of Zambia; Tony Cavalieri, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; B.M. Prasanna, CIMMYT; Monde Zulu, ZARI; Mwansa Kabamba, ZARI; Cosmos Magorokosho, CIMMYT; and Abebe Menkir, IITA.

Yielding results

CIMMYT researcher and STMA project leader Cosmos Magorokosho reminded the importance of maize in the region. “Maize is grown on over 35 million hectares in sub-Saharan Africa, and more than 208 million farmers depend on it as a staple crop. However, average maize yields in sub-Saharan Africa are among the lowest in the world.” Magorokosho pointed out that the improved maize varieties developed through the project “provide not only increased yields but also yield stability even under challenging conditions like drought, poor soil fertility, pests and diseases.”

“STMA has proved that it is possible to combine multiple stress tolerance and still get good yields,” explained B.M. Prasanna, director of CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program and the CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE). “One of the important aspects of STMA are the partnerships which have only grown stronger through the years. We are the proud partners of national agricultural research systems and over 100 seed companies across sub-Saharan Africa.”

Keynote speaker Hambulo Ngoma of the Indaba Agricultural Policy Research Institute (IAPRI) addressed the current situation of maize in Zambia, where farmers are currently reeling from recent drought. “Maize is grown by 89% of smallholder farmers in Zambia, on 54% of the country’s cultivable land, but productivity remains low. This problem will be exacerbated by expected population growth, as the population of Zambia is projected to grow from over 17 million to 42 million by 2050,” he said.

STMA meeting participants pose for a group photo during the field visit to QualiBasic Seed. (Photo: Jennifer Johnson/CIMMYT)

Down to business

On May 8, participants visited three partner local seed companies to learn more about the opportunities and challenges of producing improved maize seed for smallholder farmers.

Afriseed CEO Stephanie Angomwile discussed her business strategy and passion for agriculture with participants. She expressed her gratitude for the support CIMMYT has provided to the company, including access to drought-tolerant maize varieties as well as capacity development opportunities for her staff.

Bhola Nath Verma, principal crop breeder at Zamseed, explained how climate change has a visible impact on the Zambian maize sector, as the main maize growing basket moved 500 km North due to increased drought. Verma deeply values the partnership with the STMA project, as he can source drought-tolerant breeding materials from CIMMYT and IITA, allowing him to develop early-maturing improved maize varieties that escape drought and bring much needed yield stability to farmers in Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania and Zambia.

At QualiBasic Seed, STMA partners were given the opportunity to learn and ask questions about the company’s operations, including the seed multiplication process in Zambia and the importance of high-quality, genetically pure foundation seed for seed companies.

Emmanuel Angomwile (left) and Stephanie Angomwile (center) answer visitors’ questions at their seed company, Afriseed. (Photo: Jennifer Johnson/CIMMYT)

Young ideas

The meeting concluded with an awards ceremony for the winners of the 2019 MAIZE Youth Innovators Awards – Africa, established by MAIZE in collaboration with the Young Professionals for Agricultural Development (YPARD). These awards recognize the contributions of young women and men under 35 who are implementing innovations in African maize-based agri-food systems, including research-for-development, seed systems, agribusiness, and sustainable intensification. This is the second year of the MAIZE Youth Awards, and the first time it has been held in Africa. Winners include Hildegarde Dukunde of Rwanda and Mila Lokwa Giresse of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the change agent category, Admire Shayanowako of the Republic of South Africa and Ismael Mayanja of Uganda in the research category, and Blessings Likagwa of Malawi in the farmer category.

Winners of the 2019 MAIZE Youth Innovators Awards – Africa receive their awards at the STMA meeting in Lusaka, Zambia. From left to right: Admire Shayanowako, Blessings Likagwa, Ismael Mayanja and Hildegarde Dukunde. Fifth awardee Mila Lokwa Giresse not pictured. (Photo: J.Bossuet/CIMMYT)

Foliar damage to maize leaves due to adult fall armyworm in Zimbabwe. (Photo: C. Thierfelder/CIMMYT)

New study identifies best agronomic practices to reduce fall armyworm damage

Written by Jennifer Johnson on April 22, 2019. Posted in News.

The fall armyworm, an invasive insect-pest native to the Americas, has caused significant damage to maize crops in sub-Saharan Africa since its arrival to the region in 2016. An integrated approach, including improved agronomic practices, is necessary in order to fight against the invasive caterpillar. However, little is known about the most effective agronomic practices that could control fall armyworm under typical African smallholder conditions. In addition, more information is needed on the impact of fall armyworm on maize yield in Africa, as previous studies have focused on data trials or farmer questionnaires rather than using data from farmer fields. In a new study published by researchers with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), investigators set out to understand the factors influencing fall armyworm damage and to quantify yield losses due to fall armyworm damage.

The study examined damage in smallholder maize fields in two districts of eastern Zimbabwe. “We estimated the yield losses due to fall armyworm damage at 11.57 percent in the study area. Extrapolated to the whole of Zimbabwe, this would amount to a loss of 200,000 tons of grain, or a value of more than $32 million using the average global price of maize of $163 per ton in 2018,” said Frederic Baudron, cropping systems agronomist at CIMMYT and main author of the study.

Practices such as infrequent weeding or planting on land that had previously been fallow were found to increase fall armyworm damage to maize — most likely because they increased the amount of fall armyworm host plants other than maize. Conversely, practices hypothesized to increase the abundance of natural enemies of fall armyworm — such as minimum and zero tillage or the application of manure and compost — were found to decrease fall armyworm damage. Intercropping with pumpkins was found to increase damage, possibly by offering a shelter to moths or facilitating plant-to-plant migration of the caterpillar. Fall armyworm damage was also higher for some maize varieties over others, pointing to the possibility of selecting for host plant resistance.

“Given the limited coverage of the study in terms of area and season, it would be interesting to replicate it all over the country through the involvement of governmental agricultural departments, so that we get the full picture around the fall armyworm problem at a larger scale,” said Mainassara Zaman-Allah, co-author of the study and abiotic stress phenotyping specialist at CIMMYT.

This study is unique in that it is the first to collect information on agronomic practices that can affect fall armyworm damage using data taken directly from smallholder farmer fields. “Many papers have been written on pest incidence-damage-yield relationships, but with researchers often having control over some of the potential sources of variation,” said Peter Chinwada, TAAT Fall Armyworm Compact Leader at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), another co-author of the study.

“Our study was driven by the desire to determine fall armyworm incidence-damage-yield relationships under typical African smallholder farmer conditions which are characterized by a diversity of cropping systems, planting dates and “pest management practices” that may have been adopted for purposes which have nothing to do with managing pests. Unravelling such relationships therefore requires not only institutional collaboration, but the meeting of minds of scientists from diverse disciplines.”

The results of the study suggest that several practices could be promoted to control fall armyworm in its new home of Africa. “Farmers have already been informed of the results by their extension agents; the NGO GOAL, present in Zimbabwe, shared the findings,” Baudron said. “The next step is to test some of the recommendations suggested in the paper to control fall armyworm such as good weed management, conservation agriculture, use of manure and compost, and stopping pumpkin intercropping. These approaches will need to be refined.”

This work was implemented by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), GOAL, and the University of Zimbabwe. It was made possible by the generous support of Irish Aid, Bakker Brothers and the CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE). Any opinions, findings, conclusion, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of Irish Aid, Bakker Brothers and MAIZE.

Delegates of the 3-year review conference pose for a group photograph at the ICRAF Campus in Nairobi. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)

International coalition keeps devastating maize disease at bay, but risks still linger

Written by Jérôme Bossuet on December 10, 2018. Posted in Features.

NAIROBI, Kenya (CIMMYT) — When maize lethal necrosis (MLN) was first reported in Bomet County, Kenya, in September 2011 and spread rapidly to several countries in eastern Africa, agricultural experts feared this emerging maize disease would severely impact regional food security. However, a strong partnership across eight countries between maize research, plant health organizations and the private seed sector has, so far, managed to contain this devastating viral disease, which can wipe out entire maize fields. As another emerging pest, the fall armyworm, is making headlines in Africa, African countries could learn a lot from the initiatives to combat MLN on how to rapidly respond to emerging crop pests and diseases.

On November 19-20, 2018, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), national research and plant protection agencies and seed companies met in Nairobi to review the third year’s progress of the MLN Diagnostics and Management Project, supported by USAID. All participants agreed that preventing any spread of the disease into southern Africa was a great success.

“The fact that we all responded rapidly and productively to this crisis serves as a testament of the success of our collective efforts,” said CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program Director, B.M. Prasanna, while addressing delegates from Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. “That no new country has reported the MLN outbreak since Ethiopia last reported it in the 2014-2015 period, and that we have managed to keep it at bay from southern Africa and west Africa is no mean feat. It would have been a major food security disaster if the disease had spread throughout sub-Saharan Africa.”

However, the MLN Community of Practice warned that risks of severe outbreaks remain, with new cases of MLN reported during the MLN 2018 survey in several parts of Uganda.

Delegates from Rwanda discuss the country's workplan at the 3-year MLN project review. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT) — *Delegates from Rwanda discuss the country’s workplan at the 3-year MLN project review. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)*

Rapid response to a food security threat

MLN is caused by the combination of the maize chlorotic mottle virus (MCMV) and other common cereal viruses mostly from the potyviridae family — a set of viruses that encompasses over 30 percent of known plant viruses — like the sugarcane mosaic virus (SCMV). This viral disease can result in up to 100 percent yield loss and has devastated the incomes and food security situation of many smallholder farmers in the region.

CIMMYT, in collaboration with national agricultural research institutions, national plant protection agencies and seed sector partners, developed a multi-layered response system including real-time intensive surveillance, screening, and fast-tracking of the MLN resistance breeding program. Thanks to the MLN Screening Facility in Naivasha, Kenya, maize breeders rapidly discovered that most popular maize varieties were susceptible, which could expose poor farmers to the risk of losing their entire maize crops.

Using its global collection of maize lines and numerous crop improvement innovations, CIMMYT was able to develop and release at least 15 MLN-resistant maize varieties in just 2 to 3 years.

One important step was to understand how the disease spread. Epidemiologists quickly pointed out the necessity to work with the seed companies and farmers, as the virus could be transmitted through seeds. The project helped put in place the protocols for seed firms to adhere to for their products to be MLN-free. Affordable and simple seed treatment procedures yielded promising results. The project also created awareness on better farming methods for effective disease control.

National Plant Protection Organizations were mobilized to create intensive awareness. They were also equipped and trained on low-cost innovative field diagnostic tools like MLN immunostrips and the deployment of GPS-based mobile surveillance and reporting systems.

“For the first time, Rwanda was able to conduct a comprehensive survey on MLN in farmers’ fields, commercial seed fields and at agro-dealers. We are glad that through MLN management and awareness programs within the project, MLN incidences have declined,” said Fidele Nizeyimana, maize breeder and pathologist at the Rwanda Agricultural Board (RAB) and the MLN Surveillance team lead in Rwanda.

“Equally important is that the commercial seed sector took the responsibility of testing their seed production fields, made sure that seed exchange is done in a responsible manner and implemented voluntary monitoring and surveillance within their fields,” remarked Francis Mwatuni, MLN project manager at CIMMYT.

“I am happy that Malawi has maintained its MLN-free status as per the intensive MLN surveillance activities we conducted in the country over the last three years,” noted Johnny Masangwa, senior research officer and MLN Surveillance team lead in Malawi. “We are now able to monitor both seed and grain movement through our borders for MLN traces, courtesy of the lab equipment, reagents and training on laboratory analysis we received through the project”.

B.M. Prasanna, director of the CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE), discusses what the CGIAR offers in rapid response preparedness to newly emerging pests, diseases and crises.

The maize sector should remain vigilant

Daniel Bomet, maize breeder at Uganda’s National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO), warned that with new infections reported in the northern parts of his country, the maize sector needs to remain alert to the threat of MLN. “We need to step up MLN awareness and management programs, and require seed companies to follow the right procedures to produce MLN-free seeds to arrest this trend,” he said.

Tanzania Seed Association Executive Director, Bob Shuma, also warned that MLN could be spreading to the southern highlands of the country as the virus was detected in some seed shipments from three seed companies operating in that region. A comprehensive MLN survey in Tanzania will hopefully soon give an idea of the countrywide status of the disease in the country.

Conference speakers and participants noted that inefficient regulatory processes in maize seed variety release and deployment still stand in the way of rapid release of MLN resistant varieties to farmers across the region.

“How quickly we scale up and deploy the elite MLN-resistant and stress-tolerant varieties to the farmer is the next most important phase of the project,” Prasanna said.

The Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS) General Manager, Phytosanitary Services, Isaac Macharia, said that with the support of the USAID Feed the Future program, the government agency has set up a team dedicated to assisting seed companies doing seed multiplication to fast-track the release of the MLN-resistant varieties to the market. Some Kenyan seed companies announced they will market MLN-resistant varieties for the next cropping season in March 2019.

As the project enters its last year, the MLN Community of Practice looks to ensure the fully functional pest surveillance and management system it has put in place is sustainable beyond the project’s life.

*CIMMYT researchers Dave Hodson (left) and Francis Mwatuni (center) discuss MLN issues with another delegate during the 3-year MLN project review workshop. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)*

The conference organized by the Fall Armyworm R4D International Consortium attracted the interest of a large group of participants. (Photo: African Union Commission)

International research-for-development coalition against fall armyworm, the not-so-nice, very hungry caterpillar

Written by Jérôme Bossuet on November 8, 2018. Posted in Features.

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (CIMMYT) — African farmers have lost millions of dollars in earnings since 2016 due to the loss of crops to the voracious fall armyworm.

Since the initial shock, farmers, researchers, extension officers, agribusinesses, governments and donors have reacted quickly to fight the invasive pest in various ways, including with pesticides, agroecological approaches and new seeds.

Yet the situation is far from under control. A more coordinated research-for-development (R4D) action plan is urgently needed to ensure that effective and affordable solutions reach smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa so they can sustainably combat the devastating pest.

Smallholder farm socioeconomics are highly complex, which makes adoption of any new technology or practice a challenge. “We must look at the big picture to design safer, accessible, effective and sustainable solutions against fall armyworm,” said Martin Kropff, director general of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), which jointly coordinated “Fall Armyworm Research for Development: Status and priorities for Africa,” an international conference held from Oct. 29 to 31 at the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Hosted by the Fall Armyworm R4D International Consortium, the conference was aimed at drawing a science-based roadmap to combat the hungry caterpillar. The partners organizing the conference were the African Union Commission (AUC), the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), the Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International (CABI), CIMMYT, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe), the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Vulnerable smallholder farmers

African leaders consider the invasive fall armyworm “a big threat for African food security,” said Amira Elfadil, African Union Commissioner for Social Affairs, at the opening of the conference.

The caterpillar has munched through thousands of hectares of maize, sorghum and a few other commercial crops across Africa and is causing severe concerns among food and agriculture experts and policymakers. Since it was first detected in Nigeria and São Tomé, the moth has spread across more than 40 African countries and has been seen in India since July 2018. It could also invade Europe and other continents.

“Fall armyworm has been the fastest pest to expand across the continent,” said Eyasu Abraha, Ethiopia’s state minister for agriculture development.

The pest is a familiar foe to agricultural experts and farmers in the Americas who have fought against it for several decades. However, the pest has found an ideal environment to flourish in Africa, with diverse agro-ecologies and a warmer climate all year round amplifying its persistent threat.

It has a host range of more than 80 plant species, including maize, a staple food on which millions of people throughout sub-Saharan Africa depend for food and income security. It can cause total crop losses, and at advanced larval development stages can be difficult to control even with synthetic pesticides. The female fall armyworm can lay up to a thousand eggs at a time and produce multiple generations very quickly without pause in tropical environments. The moth can fly 100 km (62 miles) a night, and some moth populations have even been reported to fly distances of up to 1,600 kilometers in 30 hours, according to experts.

Entomologists are trying to fill a knowledge gap on how the fall armyworm behaves and migrates throughout Africa.

Solutions that may work to combat the pest in Brazil or North America may not be applicable for the agricultural context in Africa where most farmers are low-resource smallholders, struggling to access new knowledge and technologies.

High cost of ineffective collaboration

Hans Dreyer, director of FAO’s plant protection division, listed many collaborative initiatives, including national task forces and expert working groups, which contributed to document and inform the current state of knowledge.

There are still many knowledge and technical gaps. Some resourceful information platforms are already available for the farmers and extension workers, including the fall armyworm web portal created by CABI, the mobile farmer Q&A service PlantVillage, or Precision Agriculture for Development’s text messaging advisory service MoA-Info.

“The cost of not collaborating is pretty severe,” said Regina Eddy, who leads the Fall Armyworm Task Force at the USAID Bureau for Food Security. The real gamechanger will be that “all experts in the room agree on a common and concrete research-for-development agenda and how to organize ourselves to implement it effectively,” she added.

During the conference, the experts debated intensely on the technical gaps and the best ways to combat the pest through an integrated pest management strategy, including how to scout the caterpillar in the crop field, establish monitoring and surveillance systems, pest control innovations and appropriate policy support to accelerate introduction of relevant innovations.

Safe, sustainable, farmer-centered solutions

Short-term responses to the pest at present include synthetic pesticide use. However, there are public health and environment concerns over some of the toxic pesticides being used in Africa to control the fall armyworm.

Brian Sobel from Catholic Relief Services recalled witnessing a woman in Malawi who, in an effort to combat the pest, sprayed much more chemical pesticide on her maize than necessary.

The rapid increase of the pesticide market in Africa has led to the circulation of plenty of banned or counterfeit products, some very toxic for the farmer, said Steven Haggblade, a professor in the Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics at Michigan State University in the United States. Farmers are often not well trained in the use of such chemicals and do not protect themselves during application, he said.

Pesticide use has many negative trade-offs, said Paul Jepson, a professor of environmental and molecular toxicology in the College of Agricultural Sciences at Oregon State University. Natural enemies like parasitic wasps are also often far more vulnerable to pesticides than fall armyworm larvae, which are hard to reach and hide themselves in the maize whorls for instance.

Continental action plan

A key recommendation made by the Fall Armyworm R4D International Consortium is to develop common methodologies and research protocols to ensure data from various studies across the continent are better used and compared. For example, how best could the true impacts of the fall armyworm on food and seed security, public health and environment be measured? Collaborative research could include multilocation assessment of the relationship between observed crop damages and yield losses, which is key to determine the efficacy of a pest control innovation.

Conference participants also agreed to work on defining economic and action thresholds for fall armyworm interventions, to ensure better recommendations to the farming communities.

Because no one solution can fit all farmers and socioeconomic contexts, advice must include use of environmentally safer pesticides, low-cost agronomic practices and landscape management and fall armyworm-resistant varieties, among other integrated pest management tools.

Enhanced cooperation between countries to access new technologies and manage the transboundary pest is seen as a priority. Consortium experts also urge an integrated pest management approach, initiated based on farmers’ needs. Controlling the fall armyworm in the long run will require important investments into research-for-development for generating and sharing knowledge and addressing technical gaps with farmers.

For more information on fall armyworm, this conference and the Fall Armyworm R4D International Consortium, please contact B.M. Prasanna, Director of CIMMYT’s Global Maize Program and of the CGIAR Research Program on MAIZE, at b.m.prasanna@cgiar.org.

A fall armyworm found on maize plants in Khamman district, Telangana state, India. (Photo: ICAR-Indian Institute of Maize Research)

Fall armyworm reported in India: battle against the pest extends now to Asia

Written by Carolyn Cowan on August 13, 2018. Posted in News.

The fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda, a devastating insect-pest, has been identified for the first time on the Indian subcontinent. Native to the Americas, the pest is known to eat over 80 plant species, with a particular preference for maize, a main staple crop around the world. The fall armyworm was first officially reported in Nigeria in West Africa in 2016, and rapidly spread across 44 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Sightings of damage to maize crops in India due to fall armyworm mark the first report of the pest in Asia.

Scientists from the College of Agriculture at the University of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences (UAHS) confirmed the arrival of the pest in maize fields within campus grounds in Shivamogga, in the state of Karnataka, southern India. Both morphological and molecular techniques confirmed the identity as FAW.

A pest alert published on July 30 by the National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources (NBAIR), part of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), further confirmed a greater than 70% prevalence of fall armyworm in a maize field in the district of Chikkaballapur, in the state of Karnataka. Unofficial reports of incidence of FAW are rapidly emerging from several states in India, including Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Telangana.

The pest has the potential to spread quickly not only within India, but also to other neighboring countries in Asia, owing to suitable climatic conditions.

Since the arrival of FAW in Africa in 2016, the CGIAR Research Program on Maize (MAIZE) has intensively worked with partners on a variety of fronts to tackle the challenge. At a Stakeholders Consultation Meeting held in Nairobi in April 2017, 160 experts from 29 countries worked together and developed an Action Plan to fight fall armyworm. The meeting was co-organized by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in partnership with the government of Kenya.

In early 2018 MAIZE, in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and other collaborators, released a comprehensive manual on effective management of this pest in Africa. The manual, “Fall Armyworm in Africa: A Guide for Integrated Pest Management,” provides tips on FAW identification as well as technologies and practices for effective and sustainable management.

Leaf damage from fall armyworm on maize plants in Khamman district, Telangana state, India. (Photo: ICAR-Indian Institute of Maize Research)

“The strategies outlined in this manual can be of great importance to farmers in India when dealing with this insect pest. FAW is indeed one of the most destructive crop pests, and there is no option than to adopt an integrated pest management strategy to effectively tackle this complex challenge,” said B.M. Prasanna, director of MAIZE and the Global Maize Program at CIMMYT. “MAIZE and partners are dedicated to finding solutions to this problem that will protect the food security and incomes of smallholder farmers across Asia and Africa.”

Other regions are at risk as well. Researchers have warned of the potential impacts if FAW spreads to Europe, where customs inspectors have already reported having discovered and destroyed the pest on quarantined crops imported from Africa on several occasions.

Global experts on maize and key stakeholders in Asia will gather together in Ludhiana, India, on October 8-10, 2018, for the 13th Asian Maize Conference to discuss pressing issues to the crop across the continent, including the spread of fall armyworm. The conference, organized by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), the Indian Institute of Maize Research (IIMR), CIMMYT, MAIZE, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) and the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA), is expected to attract more than 250 participants from almost all the major maize-growing countries in Asia.