Though it’s native to the Americas, the fall armyworm – a voracious caterpillar that attacks maize and other cereals, damaging the leaves – has begun wreaking havoc in Africa and Asia. In response, many farmers turn to chemical pesticides, but these can be toxic to humans and the environment. And since many farmers lack experience handling these pesticides and lack access to protective clothing, the effect is even more serious.
How much damage can fall armyworms cause? Is it true that using chemicals is effective to control this pest? Are there natural enemies that can effectively attack this pest?
Find out in a discussion exploring the danger of overusing chemical pesticides and its alternative – using natural predators and enemies of the fall armyworm – to answer the question: to spray, or not to spray? Join Paul Jepson, an independent consultant in integrated pest management, Buyung Hadi, coordinator of Global Action for Fall Armyworm Control at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United and Rhett Harrison, a tropical forest ecologist and conservation biologist at CIFOR-ICRAF.
Independent IPM Consultant
FAO
CIFOR-ICRAF
We want you to share Forests News content, which is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This means you are free to redistribute our material for non-commercial purposes. All we ask is that you give Forests News appropriate credit and link to the original Forests News content, indicate if changes were made, and distribute your contributions under the same Creative Commons license. You must notify Forests News if you repost, reprint or reuse our materials by contacting forestsnews@cifor-icraf.org.
