African Development Bank Hosts Meeting to Combat Fall Army Worm in Central and West Africa
The African Development Bank is advocating for a regional strategy to combat the Fall Army Worm (FAW) in Central and West Africa, which threatens to incur losses between US$2.48 billion and US$6.187 billion over five years. A high-level partnership meeting commenced on September 11 in Yaounde, hosted by Cameroon's Minister of Agriculture, Henri Eyebe Ayissi.
This two-day event gathers researchers and representatives from public and private sectors to address the pest's impact on agriculture. The FAW, native to the Americas, inflicts severe damage to crops, particularly maize, and has been confirmed in Central and West Africa since 2016. Its rapid spread poses a significant risk to food security for over 300 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa.
