Awareness and community preferences on collective pest management for fall armyworm in rural Zambia

Collective pest management can provide benefits over individual field-by-field management, especially for highly mobile pests when consistent and coordinated actions are implemented. Since its invasion in Africa, fall armyworm (FAW) has quickly established due to widely available maize fields managed by millions of smallholder farmers. As a highly mobile pest, FAW's management is complicated and indicates the need for collective action. Conservation biocontrol such as intercropping can offer simple, low-cost and adaptable solutions to smallholder farmers as pest management alternatives to chemical insecticides that reduce pest pressure and chemical usage. Between 2019 and 2022, a project on conservation biocontrol using local companion crops to manage FAW in smallholder farming systems was implemented in two districts of Zambia. The study presented here aimed to assess the intervention considering farmers ecological knowledge, and willingness and preferences to operationalize collective action principles, long-term pest management and consider the limiting factors. The results show that the intervention increased farmers' knowledge of the concept of biocontrol and natural enemies. Farmers in both communities demonstrated a positive attitude towards a collective action to manage FAW and showed willingness to implement it at the community level. Boundaries, local conditions and leadership were found to be critical to support a collective action. The main factors limiting the implementation of a collective action for FAW management was lack of knowledge, coordination and support. This study recognizes the knowledge needed and limitations to promoting collective pest management and fills a gap in approaches to the management of FAW in Africa.