April 27, 2024 | 19:45 GMT +7
April 27, 2024 | 19:45 GMT +7
Hotline: 0913.378.918
An invasive species damaging maize crops in Africa surfaced in 2016, but it did not cause as much damage as originally feared, according to a new study — and even better, the study found that the pest could be controlled without the use of toxic pesticides.
The fall armyworm, a type of moth, can devastate maize and rice crops when left unchecked. Governments spent millions of dollars on pesticides to stop its spread when it was discovered.
But the new study, from the Center for Tropical Forest Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF), found that the impact of the armyworms wasn't nearly as bad as initially feared and that the pesticides were not necessary at all, causing more harm than good.
In large part, the armyworms were controlled by native predators such as bats and wasps. "Reports suggest that natural enemies can effectively control the pest under certain circumstances. For example, high proportions of [armyworm] larvae may be attacked by parasitoids in unsprayed fields … and significant mortality from fungal infections has been recorded," the study said.
The downsides of pesticides, according to the study, are that they expose farmers to high levels of toxic chemicals, kill off beneficial native insects in addition to the invasive ones, and require more and more spraying as time goes on, fostering a dependency instead of actually solving the problem.
The money spent on the pesticides could have been far better spent in any number of ways, according to the study. "The investment in these smallholder farmers should be on improving their farming systems and getting their yields up," Rhett Harrison, the landscape ecologist at CIFOR-ICRAF who authored the study, said. "And this pest is part of the system but it's not the main problem in the system."
Hopefully, this new research will prevent governments from turning to pesticides as a knee-jerk first response to pest problems in the future, resulting in healthier crops and humans alike.
(TCD)
(VAN) RENOFARM, or Reduce the Need for Antimicrobials on Farms for Sustainable Agrifood Systems Transformation already piloted in Indonesia, Uganda and Nigeria
(VAN) Since 2022, a highly contagious strain of bird flu has spread across the U.S. at an unprecedented rate, resulting in the deaths of more than 90 million birds, plus thousands more in the wild.
(VAN) 'It’s a product that answers all the challenges we have as a society.'
(VAN) FAO workshop highlights success stories, including from Benin, that provide models for replication.
(VAN) The World Health Organization (WHO) said the rising number of bird flu cases has raised 'great concern' because it had an 'extremely high' mortality rate among those who had been infected around the world.
(VAN) Global Network Against Food Crises’ partners call for a transformative approach to break the cycle of acute hunger
(VAN) Climate change may still be an existential threat to humanity, but as Earth Day 2024 rolls around on Monday, some of the people most concerned about the planet aren't peddling doom– they're spreading optimism.