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<\/a>\nJoseph Compton, Regional Manager for Eastern Africa, African Development Bank<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nWhile officially opening the event, AfDB Regional Manager for Eastern Africa Joseph Compton noted that FAW was a highly damaging transboundary pest threatening Africa\u2019s food and nutrition security.\n\n[su_quote]\u201cReports have shown that, if no appropriate actions are taken, the fall armyworm could cause from 21\u00a0to 53% maize yield losses in just 12 African countries within five years. These are valued at US$2.48 billion to $6.187 billion,\u201d he said.[\/su_quote]\n\n\u201cThis meeting is a clarion call in our quest to find lasting solutions to the fall armyworm menace and a first step in identifying robust, low-cost, and effective control solutions that are ready for immediate deployment,\u201d he added.\n\nDavid Mwangi, Head, Plant Protection Services, State Department for Crop Development, Ministry of Agriculture, while welcoming participants to the meeting, said Kenya had already incurred losses worth $30 million to the pest.\n\n\u201cWe are looking forward to leaving this meeting with technology options to deploy to farmers in the coming season,\u201d he added.\n\nDevelopment partners, researchers, and private sector companies made presentations on ongoing initiatives and technologies for controlling FAW. Country focal points from the represented nations described the status of FAW in their countries and outlined ongoing control efforts. They also identified the most effective technologies from the presentation, and ways to scale them out to smallholder farmers.\n\nOne immediate option identified for scaling out was the Syngenta Foundation\u2019s seed treatment pesticide known as Fortenza Dou, which is considered effective against FAW for the first 30 days after crop emergence.\n
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<\/a>\nChris Akem, IITA TAAT Coordinator, giving the keynote speech<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe participants also identified options to finance the delivery of proven technology packages to farmers as well as the necessary policy and regulatory framework reforms to fast track registration of the identified technologies across the region.\n\n[su_quote]\u201cIt is important for strengthening partnerships to ensure a coordinated regional approach for such a devastating pest,\u201d said\u00a0Chris Akem<\/a>, TAAT Coordinator at IITA.[\/su_quote]\n\nThe fall armyworm adult is dispersed by wind; its later caterpillar stages feed inside maize whorls and cobs where they are inaccessible to chemical sprays. In its short lifespan of about 10 days, a single mated, adult female moth can lay between 1,500 and 2,000 eggs. Therefore, if not properly controlled, many more countries could be at risk, as well as the food and income security of over 300 million resource-poor people in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in those regions where maize, sorghum, and millet are staple food crops.\n
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