Socioeconomic and health impacts of fall armyworm in Ethiopia.

Since 2016, fall armyworm (FAW) has threatened sub-Saharan 'Africa's fragile food systems and economic performance. Yet, there is limited evidence on this transboundary pest's economic and food security impacts in the region. Additionally, the health and environmental consequences of...

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Autores principales: Zewdu Abro, Emily Kimathi, Hugo De Groote, Tadele Tefera, Subramanian Sevgan, Saliou Niassy, Menale Kassie
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Publicado: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021
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Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/61db9866d85d413fa8b7dca8c0a5c272
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:61db9866d85d413fa8b7dca8c0a5c2722021-12-02T20:04:22ZSocioeconomic and health impacts of fall armyworm in Ethiopia.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0257736https://doaj.org/article/61db9866d85d413fa8b7dca8c0a5c2722021-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257736https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203Since 2016, fall armyworm (FAW) has threatened sub-Saharan 'Africa's fragile food systems and economic performance. Yet, there is limited evidence on this transboundary pest's economic and food security impacts in the region. Additionally, the health and environmental consequences of the insecticides being used to control FAW have not been studied. This paper presents evidence on the impacts of FAW on maize production, food security, and human and environmental health. We use a combination of an agroecology-based community survey and nationally representative data from an agricultural household survey to achieve our objectives. The results indicate that the pest causes an average annual loss of 36% in maize production, reducing 0.67 million tonnes of maize (0.225 million tonnes per year) between 2017 and 2019. The total economic loss is US$ 200 million, or 0.08% of the gross domestic product. The lost production could have met the per capita maize consumption of 4 million people. We also find that insecticides to control FAW have more significant toxic effects on the environment than on humans. This paper highlights governments and development partners need to invest in sustainable FAW control strategies to reduce maize production loss, improve food security, and protect human and environmental health.Zewdu AbroEmily KimathiHugo De GrooteTadele TeferaSubramanian SevganSaliou NiassyMenale KassiePublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 11, p e0257736 (2021)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic Medicine
R
Science
Q
spellingShingle Medicine
R
Science
Q
Zewdu Abro
Emily Kimathi
Hugo De Groote
Tadele Tefera
Subramanian Sevgan
Saliou Niassy
Menale Kassie
Socioeconomic and health impacts of fall armyworm in Ethiopia.
description Since 2016, fall armyworm (FAW) has threatened sub-Saharan 'Africa's fragile food systems and economic performance. Yet, there is limited evidence on this transboundary pest's economic and food security impacts in the region. Additionally, the health and environmental consequences of the insecticides being used to control FAW have not been studied. This paper presents evidence on the impacts of FAW on maize production, food security, and human and environmental health. We use a combination of an agroecology-based community survey and nationally representative data from an agricultural household survey to achieve our objectives. The results indicate that the pest causes an average annual loss of 36% in maize production, reducing 0.67 million tonnes of maize (0.225 million tonnes per year) between 2017 and 2019. The total economic loss is US$ 200 million, or 0.08% of the gross domestic product. The lost production could have met the per capita maize consumption of 4 million people. We also find that insecticides to control FAW have more significant toxic effects on the environment than on humans. This paper highlights governments and development partners need to invest in sustainable FAW control strategies to reduce maize production loss, improve food security, and protect human and environmental health.
format article
author Zewdu Abro
Emily Kimathi
Hugo De Groote
Tadele Tefera
Subramanian Sevgan
Saliou Niassy
Menale Kassie
author_facet Zewdu Abro
Emily Kimathi
Hugo De Groote
Tadele Tefera
Subramanian Sevgan
Saliou Niassy
Menale Kassie
author_sort Zewdu Abro
title Socioeconomic and health impacts of fall armyworm in Ethiopia.
title_short Socioeconomic and health impacts of fall armyworm in Ethiopia.
title_full Socioeconomic and health impacts of fall armyworm in Ethiopia.
title_fullStr Socioeconomic and health impacts of fall armyworm in Ethiopia.
title_full_unstemmed Socioeconomic and health impacts of fall armyworm in Ethiopia.
title_sort socioeconomic and health impacts of fall armyworm in ethiopia.
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate 2021
url https://doaj.org/article/61db9866d85d413fa8b7dca8c0a5c272
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AT emilykimathi socioeconomicandhealthimpactsoffallarmyworminethiopia
AT hugodegroote socioeconomicandhealthimpactsoffallarmyworminethiopia
AT tadeletefera socioeconomicandhealthimpactsoffallarmyworminethiopia
AT subramaniansevgan socioeconomicandhealthimpactsoffallarmyworminethiopia
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