Integrated Pest Management (IPM) farmer Field School (FFS): A Guide for Facilitators of FFS on Maize with Special Emphasis on Fall Armyworm

Maize is most important food crop after rice and wheat contributing towards national food security with an annual production of 28.7 million metric tonnes. The major maize producing states are Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. Maize is a relatively less water demanding crop and gives higher yield /hectare as compared to other cereals. Due to development of newer varieties which are tolerant to extreme temperatures, the area under maize cultivation is increasing in northern parts of India. In India about 15 million farmers are engaged in farming and processing of maize.

The recent invasion of Fall Armyworm (FAW) is causing wide economic damage to maize farmers. The pest is new to India. Hence, it is important to understand its behaviour in the agro ecosystem and its interactions with predators, parasitiods and entomo-pathogens in diverse agro ecosystem. Thus, this illustrative guide on IPM-FFS has been developed by FAO and Directorate of Plant protection Quarantine & Storage (DPPQS), MoAFW for promoting IPM in maize cultivation with special emphasis on FAW management. This is an output of FAO's project titled, "Time critical measures to support early warning and monitoring for sustainable management of Fall Armyworm in India".