The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) launched on 12/13 a three-year Global Action to control fall armyworm to intensify efforts to contain the growing spread of the invasive pest, which is causing serious damage to food production and affecting millions of farmers around the world. Internationally called FallArmyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda is a pest native to the Americas and has spread rapidly across Africa and the Near East and Asia in the last four years.
“It threatens the food security of hundreds of millions of people and the livelihoods of small farmers,” said FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu. He made the remarks at the launch of Global Action on the sidelines of the FAO Council, the Organization's executive body. “This is a global threat that requires a global perspective,” he emphasized, urging FAO member states to “considerably expand existing efforts” to prevent the spread of this harmful pest to new regions.
In his speech, Dongyu said the FAO is trying to mobilize US $ 500 million over the next three years to control the pest. To this end, he proposed the establishment of a Global Action Fund – the first multi-partner trust fund to address threats – and encouraged countries to contribute to this financing mechanism.
“We must all work together, FAO, international organizations, governments, private sectors, research centers, academia and civil society. With the proposed Global Action, FAO commits to putting the knowledge, experience and lessons learned of stakeholders and partners at the service of farmers around the world to contain the global threat of this pest”, concluded the FAO Director General .
Source: agrolink
