Putting Research Into Use: Community Based Armyworm Forecasting In Kenya

African Armyworm (Spodoptera exempta) is a serious, sporadic outbreak pest in Kenya, as well as other countries of Eastern and Southern Africa. It attacks all graminaceous crops, so is a significant concern for smallholder farmers as well as for governments wishing to achieve food security. Since the late 1960s, a key component of the management strategy has been outbreak forecasting, run by national forecasting units. In recent years a new, community based approach to forecasting has been developed and tested in several countries, and in Kenya the approach is now being scaled up. This paper focuses on the approach to scaling up that is being used, rather than details and impact of the technique itself. Five components are presented: addressing registration issues; establishing the equipment supply chain; building implementation capacity; stimulating demand; generating policy support.