AIMS

FAO Mobile phone App to monitor & combat Fall Armyworm



(Sources for images: E-Agriculture, Africa.Farming.Com)

We would like to congratulate colleagues at A WorldBridge* for their exceptional determination and efforts in contributing technical excellence and substantive achievements to assisting small-holder farmers in Africa in managing the Fall Armyworm through the 

Fall Armyworm Monitoring and Early Warning System (FAMEWS) mobile app released by the FAO of the UN. 

Please see FAO thank you certificate.

FAMEWS : HOW DOES IT WORK ? 

Once farmers and workers check their crops for infestations and upload the required data, the app calculates infestation levels so that farmers can take immediate actions to manage the situation.

The Fall Army Worm is having a devastating impact on Africa 

The data is validated by national Fall Armyworm focal points and transferred to a global web-based platform. It is then analyzed to give a real-time situation overview with maps of Fall Armyworm infestations and the measures that were most effective in reducing its impact.

Initially implemented in Madagascar and Zambia, the app is now being rolled out across all countries in Sub-Saharan Africa affected by the invasive pest through the FAO-supported Farmer Field Schools (FFSs) as well as other community-based forums leading the fight against Fall Armyworm.

The app is an integral part of FAO’s sustainable management programme for Fall Armyworm in Africa. It supports all stages of Fall Armyworm management from early warning and monitoring to response and risk assessment.  

* A WorldBridge is:

  • one of the GeoForAll Labs (they have two labs - one  running projects for NASA and UN FAO in Middletown, NY, USA and a second one running delivering corresponding data including climate change studies for USGS, NOAA and NASA at Barrow, Alaska, USA. Everything they produce is open source; 
  • an international award-winning program for learning 21st Century Skills, using advanced teaching methods that incorporate real- world projects involving industry and government partners. A World Bridge continually advances educational models for international leadership, economic development, and educational research. These dynamic projects involve the design and implementation of Real-world, Real-time Project- Based Learning into the curriculum. Students develop professional skills while working on locally-oriented projects that have relevance to the larger global community, such as urban management and sustainable resources. 

> A World Bridge, by Suchith Anand, GeoForAll, 2017, p.5

Did you know that you can find reseach resources on Armyworm through:

Learn more about AGORA (Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture) - managed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in partnership with Cornell University  and up to 85 of the world’s leading science publishers.

Learn more about AGRIS: INTERNATIONAL INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR THE AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY - managed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. 

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