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Asia Regional Project on Fall Armyworm and Brown Planthopper
This new initiative is supported by South Korea's Asian Food and Agriculture Cooperation Initiative (AFACI) in partnership with the CSIRO Genomics Team and the ASEAN FAW Action Plan. This project will focus on three major components to better understand these two serious regional pests.
This page is designed to update the project team and wider regional stakeholders on the work of the initiative as well as opportunities to provide feedback and participate in events.
Component 1: will build genomic evidence-based information to infer FAW (Year 1) and BPH populations (Year 2) connectivity across the region as the first step for the development of pest management solutions
This will build on the successful work by CSIRO's Dr. Wee Tek Tay and a team of experts under a previous GRDC, ACIAR, and CRDC co-funded project that aimed to understand better FAW population connectivities, management options, and resistance profiles in Australia, Southeast Asia, Oceania, and East Africa (Cambodia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Indonesia, Philippine, Vietnam, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Uganda).
Component 2: will look at building skills across the region on bioassay work to understand resistance profiles in the two species through the development of standardized protocols between the project partner countries, as well as providing hands-on training to analyze and quality control DNA sequence datasets for molecular diagnostic purposes. Identifying potential biocontrol solutions for future management of FAW and BPH will be a key focus of the work
Component 3: will look at applying solutions in the field with a focus on practical and effective IPM solutions for farmers that promote sound monitoring and management of FAW and BPH populations, to reduce conventional chemical pesticide use by 30%.
Project Timeline
Project dates: October 2023-to-October 2026
The 3-year project is structured into three distinct phases and will include workshops, annual meetings, webinars, demonstration field trials, and regularly scheduled virtual meetings taking place every two months.
Goals include:
First year :
Second year :
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​A better understanding of FAW population structure across the 10 AFACI partner countries
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Exploration of genomic approaches to addressing pest threats.
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An understanding of the molecular diagnostic approach, an ability to process DNA barcoding-related sequences, and an ability to perform molecular diagnosis
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A better understanding of implementing protection strategies to improve crop health and farmer communication strategies.
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Better understanding of BPH population diversity across the partner countries
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An understanding of the molecular diagnostic approach, an ability to process DNA barcoding-related sequences, and an ability to perform molecular diagnosis
Third year :
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Increasing confidence in interpreting genomic signatures concerning invasion biology
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An appreciation of biological control agents' genetic diversity available to manage FAW and BPH
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Increasing knowledge and confidence in best practices for farmer communication
Cross-cutting:
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A better understanding of target pests FAW and BPH population structure to support the development of ecologically sound and sustainable management strategies.
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An appreciation for the importance of research collaboration to address transboundary plant pests, diseases, and biosecurity threats
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Development of IPM strategies that can lead to a reduction of conventional chemical pesticides.
This page is not a publication of the FAO and any information expressed on this page does not seek to represent or imply the expression of any opinion or position whatsoever on behalf of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
Webinars
There will be a chance to join some of the webinars offered in this project. We will provide an update on these on this page.
Workshops
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First Workshop: 4-6 December 2023 in Hanoi, Vietnam
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Second Workshop: TBC August 2024 in Lao PDR
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Third Workshop: TBC
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Fourth Workshop: TBC
First Workshop
2023 Kick-Off Workshop PMP+ Asia Region FAW and BPH Diagnostics and Monitoring and Surveillance Program
Hanoi, 4-6th December 2023
Researchers from across South Asia -Southeast Asia (Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Nepal, Philippines, Thailand, Sri Lanka, South Korea, and Vietnam), Australia, and South Korea met in Hanoi for 3 days from 4-6 December 2023 to kick off the new 3-year Asia Diagnostics, Monitoring, and Surveillance Program on Fall Armyworm (FAW) and Brown Planthopper (BPH).
Relevant Research Papers
Over the coming months, we will be adding to these papers. If you would like to share something with the project team for this page, please contact us.
Tay, Tek; Rane, Rahul; James, William; Gordon, Karl; Downes, Sharon; Kim, Juil; Kuniata, Lastus; Walsh, Tom. Resistance bioassays and allele characterisation inform Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) introduction pathways in Asia and Australia. Journal of Economic Entomology. 2022; 115(6):1790-1805. At https://doi.org/10.1093/jee/toac151
Tay, Tek; Rane, Rahul; Padovan, Amanda; Walsh, Tom; Elfekih, Samia; Downes, Sharon; et al. Global population genomic signature of Spodoptera frugiperda (fall armyworm) supports complex introduction events across the Old World. Communications Biology. 2022; 5:15.
At https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-022-03230-1
Wee Tek Tay, Rahul Rane, Bill James, Andrew Gock, Valentina Aryuwandari, Y Andi Trisyono, Divina Amalin, Nguyen Van Liem, Dao Thi Hang, Sivapragasam Annamalai, Muhammad Faheem, Sathis Sri Thanarajoo, Thein Nyunt Khin, Khonesavanh Chittarath, Sathya Khay, Andrew Kalyebi, Michael Otim, et al. Characterisation of Spodoptera frugiperda (fall armyworm) populations in South-East Asia and Northern Australia - Final Report. ACIAR. At https://www.aciar.gov.au/publication/crop-2020-144-final-report
Contact us
If you have any information or ideas to share with the project team relating to FAW or BPH research please contact us at info@aseanfawaction.org
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