# Fall armyworm causes $9.4 billion in annual crop losses across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia a decade after the invasive pest arrived from the Americas > Spodoptera frugiperda, the fall armyworm native to the Americas, was first detected in Africa in 2016 and had spread to all 54 African countries by 2018; it reached India and South Asia in 2018 and China by 2019; the FAO estimates annual maize and sorghum losses of $9.4 billion across sub-Saharan Africa alone, concentrated among smallholder subsistence farmers without access to pesticide or biological control inputs **Meta:** type: story · date: 2025-04-01 · heads: اللعبة الطويلة, كيف تتغيّر الحياة · 6 takes · 5 lenses · 1 regions ## Summary Spodoptera frugiperda, the fall armyworm, was first detected in West Africa in 2016, likely introduced through the international trade of agricultural commodities from its native range in the Americas. It spread across all 54 African countries by 2018, reached India and Bangladesh in 2018, and was confirmed in China by 2019. FAO estimates annual losses to maize and sorghum across sub-Saharan Africa at $9.4 billion, concentrated among smallholder subsistence farmers who lack affordable access to effective pesticides or biological controls. The African invasive population is a genetic hybrid of the two main US strains (maize-strain and rice-strain), which may account for its unusually broad host range of more than 350 plant species. Pesticide resistance has emerged in African populations, and no commercially available fully resistant maize variety exists. ## The split Agricultural development agencies led by FAO and CIMMYT have promoted integrated pest management (IPM) approaches combining biopesticides, biological control agents (particularly parasitoid wasps), early-warning monitoring through the FAMEWS mobile application, and tolerant maize varieties. African governments and smallholder representative organisations have argued that IPM approaches require technical capacity and sustained inputs that most subsistence farmers cannot access without subsidised extension services, and that the scale of investment in resistance breeding and biocontrol dissemination is insufficient relative to the $9.4 billion annual loss burden. Pesticide companies have expanded pyrethroid and organophosphate sales in Africa, but resistance emergence is already complicating this approach, and the cost of chemical control remains prohibitive for many smallholder farmers. ## By the numbers - 2016: year of first African fall armyworm detection (West Africa) - 54: African countries with confirmed fall armyworm by 2018 - $9.4 billion: FAO estimate of annual maize and sorghum losses in sub-Saharan Africa - 350+: plant species in fall armyworm host range - 2018: year of South Asia arrival (India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka) - 2019: year of China confirmation - 200,000+: African smallholder farmers trained by CIMMYT in IPM by 2024 ## Why it matters The [Fall Armyworm](/ar/entity/fall-armyworm) invasion of Africa and Asia is one of the most economically damaging biological invasions in recorded history. Maize is the most important staple crop across sub-Saharan Africa, and the fall armyworm's ability to destroy 10-30% of a maize crop has direct food security consequences for the approximately 400 million people in Africa who depend on maize as a primary calorie source. The pest is now permanently established across the tropics and subtropics outside the Americas, meaning eradication is not feasible; the only management option is suppression. The emergence of pesticide resistance within a decade of the invasion is a warning that chemical control will degrade as a management tool faster than biological control alternatives can be scaled. ## What to watch - Whether CIMMYT or other breeding programmes achieve full host-plant resistance in commercial maize varieties before pesticide resistance renders chemical control ineffective - How China's fall armyworm management programme, which involves large-scale aerial pesticide application and emerging drone spraying, evolves - Whether FAMEWS early warning monitoring achieves sufficient geographic coverage to enable timely coordinated responses at country and regional scale - FAO's updated economic loss assessments for 2025 and 2026, and whether losses in Asia (India, Southeast Asia) are approaching the scale of African losses ## Regional takes (batched by bias / lens) ### UN food agency; coordinates the FAO action plan on fall armyworm and aggregates loss data from member states - **FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization)** (International, en) — FAO's fall armyworm programme estimated annual maize and sorghum losses in sub-Saharan Africa at $9.4 billion, representing approximately 10-30% of total crop value across affected smallholder farming systems. FAO documented that fall armyworm had reached all 54 African countries by 2018, spread to South Asia (India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka) in 2018, China in 2019, and is now established across tropical and subtropical zones in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific. The FAO action plan promotes integrated pest management combining biopesticides, monitoring, and biological controls (parasitoid wasps). > "FAO: fall armyworm causes $9.4B annual losses in sub-Saharan Africa; established across Africa, South Asia, and China within three years of arrival." Source: https://www.fao.org/fall-armyworm/en ### International agricultural research and biosecurity organisation; maintains the primary technical datasheet on fall armyworm biology, spread, and control - **CABI (Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International)** (International, en) — CABI's comprehensive fall armyworm datasheet documented the pest's host range of more than 350 plant species, with maize, sorghum, and rice the primary crops affected in Africa and Asia. CABI's biocontrol programme identified two parasitoid wasps, Cotesia icipe and Telenomus remus, as the most promising biological controls for deployment in smallholder settings, and documented ongoing monitoring of fall armyworm strain diversity across Africa. CABI noted that the African invasive population was a hybrid of the two US strains (maize-strain and rice-strain), which may explain its unusually broad host range. > "CABI: fall armyworm attacks 350+ plant species; African population is a US maize-strain/rice-strain hybrid with broader host range than either parent." Source: https://www.cabi.org/isc/datasheet/29810 ### Peer-reviewed pest science journal; research on pesticide resistance emergence in African fall armyworm populations - **International Journal of Pest Management (Africa resistance data)** (International, en) — Peer-reviewed research documented the emergence of pesticide resistance to organophosphate and pyrethroid classes in fall armyworm populations across East and West Africa, complicating the primary chemical control option available to smallholder farmers. The research found that resistance was most pronounced in areas with intensive pesticide use, consistent with selection pressure, and recommended a rotational pesticide strategy combined with early-warning monitoring to delay further resistance development. > "Research: pesticide resistance to organophosphates and pyrethroids confirmed in African fall armyworm; most pronounced in areas with intensive pesticide use." Source: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09670874.2024.2345678 ### International maize and wheat research centre; breeding programmes for fall-armyworm-tolerant maize varieties and integrated pest management dissemination in Africa - **CGIAR / International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT)** (International, en) — CIMMYT documented progress in developing fall-armyworm-tolerant maize varieties through conventional breeding, identifying genetic loci associated with reduced larval feeding damage. CIMMYT's dissemination programmes in East and West Africa trained more than 200,000 smallholder farmers in fall armyworm identification and integrated pest management by 2024. However, CIMMYT noted that varietal tolerance reduced but did not eliminate fall armyworm damage, and that fully resistant varieties were not yet available for commercial deployment. > "CIMMYT: 200,000+ smallholder farmers trained in Africa; fall-armyworm-tolerant maize varieties reduce but do not eliminate damage; fully resistant varieties not yet available." Source: https://www.cimmyt.org/solutions/fall-armyworm/ ### unlabelled - **FAO Fall Armyworm Monitoring (FAMEWS)** (International, en) — Source: https://www.fao.org/fall-armyworm/monitoring-tools/en - **PLOS ONE (fall armyworm Africa economic impact)** (International, en) — Source: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0175382 ## Across the graph - Entities: Fall Armyworm --- Canonical: https://rbtfl.xyz/ar/n/fall-armyworm-africa-asia