FAO trains farmers on pest management

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in collaborating with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development have trained over one hundred farmers in the Northern Nigeria on management and control of invasive pests.
The Organisation in a statement by it national communication office, Mr.
David Karls Tsokar, recently, said the training was a concerted effort to curtail and manage the noxious pest and its effect on crops.
While noting there was a high possibility of the pest extending its host range to other important crops such as millet, sorghum, cowpea, vegetables, Mr.
Tsokar therefore calls for urgent effort to address the challenge before it gets out of hand.
According to him, the three days training was carried out in Kaduna with participants drawn from other parts of the region.
“A similar training was held for farmers in Northcentral (Abuja) and southwest (Akure) regions among others.
The programme is done as a training of Trainers, as that the trained farmers are expected to further take down the training to farmers in their respective communities.
“As part of the immediate intervention to prevent farmers from sustaining drastic yield losses during this 2018 cropping season, and to restore productive capacity, FAO has provided to farmers, early maturing maize seed variety, herbicides, fertilizer, PPE materials, knapsack sprayer and Goldmax Total Crop Solution (insecticide),” he said He further added that 120 extension workers and 50 researchers from the project target states of Oyo, Osun, Ondo, Ekiti, Kwara, Abia, Borno, Kaduna, Katsina, Kano, Jigawa and FCT were trained on FAW biology, identification, damage symptoms, integrated pest management techniques, which includes, cultural practices, biological and chemical control, other topics covered include pesticide and pesticide risk reduction.
Good Agricultural Practice (GAP).
The FAO Country Representative Suffyan Koroma said inputs given to the farmers are short term measures to enable them meet up with the 2018 planting season.
More importantly he said, “FAO has also initiated the process of establishing a National Task Force to advice Government of Nigeria on FAW infestation.
Engage partners, communicate with relevant stakeholders on the menace of the pest and promote cooperation, coordination, consistency and synergies across the country on its infestation and intervention.
Membership of the Task Force will include amongst others, Research Institutions, private sector, relevant MDAs, NGOs, and Development Partners etc.” Koroma reiterated that FAO will not relent in its effort to fight the war against fall armyworm in order to achieve the aim of attaining zero hunger and improving the livelihood of farmers and people of Nigeria.