BIPM ON FAW

Maize or corn is the third most important cereal crop after rice and wheat for India. It's valued high for its use as food, feed, fodder and raw material for industrial products. An array of pests has been recorded to damage maize at various stages of its growth few are major pests considering the economic damage they cause. The alien invasive Fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda gained entry into India in 2018 and has spread across all the maize growing regions of the country. The larvae of FAW feed on maize leaves, cobs and tassel. Besides maize, they have also reported it to cause damage to sorghum and pearl millet (Bajra). Bio-intensive pest management strategies have been developed to manage FAW. To reach the farmers, development agencies and researchers a mobile app named BIPM ON FAW was developed in English and in other Indian languages. This mobile app gives detail information about the biology of FAW, damage symptoms in the field conditions, pest identification, management based on several methods like biological control, pheromone traps, chemical control etc. The mobile app has been named based on the language content. Attempts have been made to cover the content in NE languages so as to benefit the farmers of NE region where maize is grown widely. This mobile app has been developed in several languages like English, Hindi, Marati, Tamil, Telugu, and the North-Eastern languages Bengali, Assamese, Nagamese, Manipuri, Khasi and Sikkimism.
The users can install the mobile app from Google Play store to obtain and to disseminate information on the management of FAW.