{"id":3684,"date":"2024-05-06T16:55:16","date_gmt":"2024-05-06T15:55:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/farmingfuturefood.com\/feb2025\/?p=3684"},"modified":"2024-06-14T11:56:02","modified_gmt":"2024-06-14T10:56:02","slug":"new-efforts-needed-to-tackle-threat-of-notorious-pest-moth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/farmingfuturefood.com\/feb2025\/new-efforts-needed-to-tackle-threat-of-notorious-pest-moth\/","title":{"rendered":"New efforts needed to tackle threat of notorious pest moth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Research shortfalls are hampering attempts to increase the use of biological methods to control the fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda<\/em>), one of the world\u2019s major agricultural pests.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originating in the Americas, the moth is now present as an invasive species in 80 countries, from Africa through to Asia. It poses a major threat to cereal crops, with damage of $9.4 billion a year in Africa alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While there are hundreds of known pathogens, parasitoids and predators associated with fall armyworm, only around 40% have been the subject of testing by scientists to determine their effectiveness in reducing the species\u2019 numbers, an international team of researchers reported <\/a>i<\/a>n the journal<\/a> Biological Control<\/em>. The research shortfall means \u201cwe fail to effectively harness what nature has provided\u201d to control the pest, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blind spots and biases<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite a fast-expanding research base, the quest to improve S.<\/em> frugiperda<\/em> biocontrol has been hampered by geographic biases which limit species discovery, they noted, with most of the \u201cknowledge stockpile\u201d coming from Brazil, USA, Mexico, China and India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has also been affected by a predominance of \u2018snapshots\u2019 over methodical analyses of natural enemy populations, a bias towards large-bodied and day-active biocontrols and a lack of focus on how habitat conservation and ecosystem services contribute towards effective non-pesticide control<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDespite decennia of fall armyworm research, it remains difficult to determine whether and how certain biota actually contribute to biological control,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll too often, critical research shortfalls leave us ill-informed about their role as biological control agents and how such is mediated by aspects of the farming system.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Field studies and closer ties needed<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team of experts advocated that researchers should \u201chead back to the field\u201d to take a deeper look at biocontrol within farming systems, with realistic control and metrics that are relevant to farmers, such as yield ands profit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They advised biocontrol specialists to \u201cintegrate or perish\u201d, noting a lack of engagement with other agricultural practices such as soil science<\/a> and agronomy. They also noted that scientists are failing to sufficiently communicate the societal benefits of biocontrol to stakeholders, resulting in the continued overwhelming emphasis on pesticides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThroughout the tropics and subtropics, the fall armyworm is impacting food security, jeopardizing farmer livelihoods and triggering pesticide overuse,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAgroecological and biodiversity-based measures such as biological control constitute safe, cost-effective and environmentally-sound alternatives to pesticidal control and offer \u2018best-bet\u2019 solutions for millions of cereal growers.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Research shortfalls are hampering attempts to increase the use of biological methods to control the fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda), one of the world\u2019s major agricultural pests. \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3685,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[725,723,96,95,477,109,113,73,99,724,51],"other-categories":[218],"class_list":["post-3684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sustainable-pest-control","tag-agroecology-research","tag-agronomy","tag-biocontrol","tag-biological-control","tag-biopesticides","tag-fall-armyworm","tag-fall-armyworm-control","tag-farming-future-food","tag-pest-control","tag-pesticide-alternatives","tag-sustainable-agriculture","other-categories-editors-pick"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/farmingfuturefood.com\/feb2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/farmingfuturefood.com\/feb2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/farmingfuturefood.com\/feb2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farmingfuturefood.com\/feb2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farmingfuturefood.com\/feb2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3684"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/farmingfuturefood.com\/feb2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3686,"href":"https:\/\/farmingfuturefood.com\/feb2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3684\/revisions\/3686"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farmingfuturefood.com\/feb2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/farmingfuturefood.com\/feb2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farmingfuturefood.com\/feb2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farmingfuturefood.com\/feb2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3684"},{"taxonomy":"other-categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farmingfuturefood.com\/feb2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/other-categories?post=3684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}