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Ethiopia

Dorcas PDM Ethiopia START network - Armyworm Response - 30 August 2017

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Executive summary

The recent armyworm outbreak has affected significant hectare of maize field across the country. Boricha and Hwassa Zuria woredas were among the districts affected by the armyworm infestation. In these district, maize is a staple food and the main source of income for over 97% of the population. To this effect during the period of low maize production the income of the communities is highly deteriorated, making them more vulnerable to malnutrition and food insecurity. And owing to the fact that the areas farmer resilience to withstand any shocks has been eroded through frequent drought, Dorcas has implemented an armyworm rapid response project in the two districts. The project aimed at mitigating the devastating effects of the infestation through distributing chemicals and raising the targeted household awareness on biological armyworm protection mechanisms.

Hence, this evaluation was conducted to assess the impact of the project and draw lesson from the process. The assessment was conducted between August 22 and 26, 2017 and data were collected form a total of 150 households living in 30 Peasant Association. The results of the assessment reveals that, degree of infestation was reduced from 26-50 % to 0-25% in 75.3% maize fields and in 6% of the maize field, the infestation went down form 51-75% to 0-25%. And 95.3% of households reported that they saved 75-100% of their maize harvest. In terms of the timing of the response, 98.2% of the respondent have confirmed that the support provided was timely enough to mitigate the effects of the armyworm. According to the two districts Agriculture Office experts, the infestation could have caused a loss of about 80% maize production. All the respondent have believed that the support provided was the most appropriate response against the infestation and the support they received exactly correspond with the support that was communicated to them. Despite all these positive outcomes, the problem of in re-infestation occurred in 2.7% maize fields and 5.3% of the household reported they experience some problems while receiving the support.

In general, given food insecurity have had a chronic nature in the two district, the project has played significant role in preventing the targeted households form hunger and malnutrition. From the survey results, one can conclude that the project has minimized out-migrations and protected the community from social unsteadiness. In particular, women have been protected against the effects of out-migration, as they are the ones primarily facing the burden of food shortage. Moreover, the intervention has protected farmers from selling their important assets, i.e., their livestock in exchange for food.

To decrease future armyworm infestation impact, networking platforms among research centers, metrology stations, zone and district level Agriculture Offices, grass root community structures and pesticide suppliers must be established, as they are all playing a crucial role in protecting and mobilizing community during pre/post infestation. The existing government early warning system must include strong monitoring system to detect presence of armyworms and other notorious pests as early as possible. In connection, capacity building on early warning systems of armyworm detection to grass root community structures, woreda and zone level Agriculture Offices and metrological station must be underlined.