SABC Kicks Off "Mega Awareness" Campaign on Fall Armyworm in India

The South Asia Biotechnology Centre (SABC), in collaboration with the University of Agriculture and Horticulture Sciences (UAHS), has started a "mega campaign" on fall armyworm under the project Safeguarding Agriculture and Farmers against Fall Armyworm (Project SAFFAL) at Shivamogga, Karnataka, India on June 8, 2019. The UAHS Shivamogga was first to report the fall armyworm infestation in India in July 2018.

More than 250 farmers, input dealers, and retailers from major maize-growing areas in the country joined the workshop on Management of Fall Armyworm on Maize organized jointly by SABC and UAHS, Shivamogga. Around 350,000 hectares of maize are cultivated intensively for three seasons a year in Shivamogga, Devanagari, and Chitradurga districts of Karnataka, and fall armyworm has been a grave threat during the Kharif and Rabi seasons in 2018.

During the event, SABC released four posters on fall armyworm in Kannada languages. The Department of Agriculture of Karnataka also released a poster along with a booklet developed by UAHS, Shivamogga to provide farmers, dealers, and retailers with information and control measures of fall armyworm.

Project SAFFAL is supported by FMC Corporation and implemented in collaboration with key stakeholders in the maize value chain in India. For more information, visit the SABC website or send an email to saffal@sabc.asia.