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where it is endemic.
Our first efforts were about leveraging the knowledge in places like Brazil, the tropics, Florida, and
experts from universities and agencies like the USDA and help bring that to their counterparts in
sub-Saharan Africa and subsequently in Asia.
Now as time goes on, it’s more about adapting to the pest now that we know more about it in
these new contexts where it is.
AgriBusiness Global: The FAO says Africa is loosing as much as 18 million tonnes of corn annually,
accounting for $4.6 billion in economic loss. Do we have any other metrics that can tell us how
widespread or pervasive this is?
Dr. Bertram: We can say overall that it’s taking out about 10% of sub-Saharan Africa’s maize crops.
The valuation of that is variable, and that’s about the same as the hit from the locusts. 10%
[collectively] might not sound like it’s a wipeout, but it can be in areas, and that’s the problem. If
you have a lot of rain, then it’s not as severe of a pest. If you there’s not as much rain, then you
can have a very severe outbreak, and one of the challenges we have with it is that it is a very
insidious pest. When it shows up, you really have to know what to look for, and then it gets
inside the plant in the whorl or in the ear where you can’t get at it so you have to be fast on
the draw. This is where in many cases access to information, biocontrols, and chemical controls
might be lacking. [Crop damage] is certainly in the billions of dollars [in Africa]. I don’t think we
have estimates yet for Asia, but again it’s going be very large.
The other thing that is important is that this isn’t restricted to just maize. It goes after sorghum,
too. There is also a rice biotype of the pest and many of us are fearful that either the current
pest could adapt rice in Asia and Africa or the rice biotype could become introduced. That would
be a terrible blow because the rice crop is such a staple for so many parts of the world.
AgriBusiness Global: Let’s talk about how we’re working to help control this. The FAO started the
Global Action for Armyworm Control program in December 2019. What is that program focused on
and how’s it going?
Dr. Bertram: It is FAO and this is something that USAID and other counterparts around the world
had advocated for the FAO to play a key role as they have with other pests. So the global action
is basically trying to equip those countries where this pest is new with the information they need
to combat it. I talked earlier about leveraging the knowledge that exists in North and South
America, and several years ago we started a Research for Development Alliance, which is a
partnership betwe en universities, governments, and the FAO, and that was intended to build the
evidence base in Africa and then Asia and the Middle East. And what we’ve done under the global
action is distill the knowledge both from what we know in the Americas and also what we’re
learning overseas. What kinds of varieties are resistant? Transgenic maize is totally resistance.
Farmers in South Africa, Vietnam, and Philippines are growing biotech maize and they don’t need
to spray for the pest.
We information on biological controls and good agricultural practices, so the technical committee
that I lead has worked this year to pull this all together and synthesize it in a way that’s going to
make it accessible to sophisticated partners, and we also want to have that information available to
farmers because you need millions of smallholder farmers acting on good information and access
to control.
Early warning is not a big deal in this because it’s endemic. But in the areas where it’s migratory,
then being able to say when it has migrated in is important. So all this knowledge is important to
access control methods, including chemistries.
[In terms of chemical controls] we need to think about the policies surrounding access. Some of
the new chemistries that are available are safer than some of the older pesticides, especially in the
developing countries where pesticides are not well regulated often. People might not have all the
knowledge or be able to interpret a label. So our work is giving better options, sooner to equip
countries and also the farming communities within them to adapt to this new pests.
AgriBusiness Global: Let’s get deeper into some of those recommendations coming out of the
technical committee. You’re providing support to national task forces and coming up with specific
protocols and IPM strategies: Can you discuss some of the hallmarks of some of those programs,
given that some of them are region-specific.
Dr. Bertram: It’s fair to say that a lot of this is a work in progress. We have this Research
Development Partnership that is going after a range of approaches to agro-ecological management
practices that include biological controls, chemical controls using both biopesticides and synthetic
- 77 -
Our first efforts were about leveraging the knowledge in places like Brazil, the tropics, Florida, and
experts from universities and agencies like the USDA and help bring that to their counterparts in
sub-Saharan Africa and subsequently in Asia.
Now as time goes on, it’s more about adapting to the pest now that we know more about it in
these new contexts where it is.
AgriBusiness Global: The FAO says Africa is loosing as much as 18 million tonnes of corn annually,
accounting for $4.6 billion in economic loss. Do we have any other metrics that can tell us how
widespread or pervasive this is?
Dr. Bertram: We can say overall that it’s taking out about 10% of sub-Saharan Africa’s maize crops.
The valuation of that is variable, and that’s about the same as the hit from the locusts. 10%
[collectively] might not sound like it’s a wipeout, but it can be in areas, and that’s the problem. If
you have a lot of rain, then it’s not as severe of a pest. If you there’s not as much rain, then you
can have a very severe outbreak, and one of the challenges we have with it is that it is a very
insidious pest. When it shows up, you really have to know what to look for, and then it gets
inside the plant in the whorl or in the ear where you can’t get at it so you have to be fast on
the draw. This is where in many cases access to information, biocontrols, and chemical controls
might be lacking. [Crop damage] is certainly in the billions of dollars [in Africa]. I don’t think we
have estimates yet for Asia, but again it’s going be very large.
The other thing that is important is that this isn’t restricted to just maize. It goes after sorghum,
too. There is also a rice biotype of the pest and many of us are fearful that either the current
pest could adapt rice in Asia and Africa or the rice biotype could become introduced. That would
be a terrible blow because the rice crop is such a staple for so many parts of the world.
AgriBusiness Global: Let’s talk about how we’re working to help control this. The FAO started the
Global Action for Armyworm Control program in December 2019. What is that program focused on
and how’s it going?
Dr. Bertram: It is FAO and this is something that USAID and other counterparts around the world
had advocated for the FAO to play a key role as they have with other pests. So the global action
is basically trying to equip those countries where this pest is new with the information they need
to combat it. I talked earlier about leveraging the knowledge that exists in North and South
America, and several years ago we started a Research for Development Alliance, which is a
partnership betwe en universities, governments, and the FAO, and that was intended to build the
evidence base in Africa and then Asia and the Middle East. And what we’ve done under the global
action is distill the knowledge both from what we know in the Americas and also what we’re
learning overseas. What kinds of varieties are resistant? Transgenic maize is totally resistance.
Farmers in South Africa, Vietnam, and Philippines are growing biotech maize and they don’t need
to spray for the pest.
We information on biological controls and good agricultural practices, so the technical committee
that I lead has worked this year to pull this all together and synthesize it in a way that’s going to
make it accessible to sophisticated partners, and we also want to have that information available to
farmers because you need millions of smallholder farmers acting on good information and access
to control.
Early warning is not a big deal in this because it’s endemic. But in the areas where it’s migratory,
then being able to say when it has migrated in is important. So all this knowledge is important to
access control methods, including chemistries.
[In terms of chemical controls] we need to think about the policies surrounding access. Some of
the new chemistries that are available are safer than some of the older pesticides, especially in the
developing countries where pesticides are not well regulated often. People might not have all the
knowledge or be able to interpret a label. So our work is giving better options, sooner to equip
countries and also the farming communities within them to adapt to this new pests.
AgriBusiness Global: Let’s get deeper into some of those recommendations coming out of the
technical committee. You’re providing support to national task forces and coming up with specific
protocols and IPM strategies: Can you discuss some of the hallmarks of some of those programs,
given that some of them are region-specific.
Dr. Bertram: It’s fair to say that a lot of this is a work in progress. We have this Research
Development Partnership that is going after a range of approaches to agro-ecological management
practices that include biological controls, chemical controls using both biopesticides and synthetic
- 77 -
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