Fall Armyworm Crisis – Response

Self Help AfricaAgriculture & Nutrition, Featured, Malawi, News

Please help families in crisis

Help vulnerable farming families cope with disaster.

Please help farmers cope with the Fall Armyworm crisis.

Gorta-Self Help Africa are providing farming families in sub-Saharan Africa with a pathway out of crisis, as a devastating pest destroys entire harvests.

Invasive Fall Armyworm caterpillars have made dramatic advances across the region, stripping maize fields bare before farmers can harvest their crops, destroying the food and source of income they rely on. The small, yet devastasting worm has left smallholder farmers – including 32-year-old Patricia Twibe in Malawi –  fighting for their survival.

This crisis is just the most recent example of the immense challenges faced by small holder farmers everyday across the region.

With support from Gorta-Self Help Africa, Patricia and her husband have started doing different work on their farm – growing sweet potatoes along their staple maize crop, and breeding chickens and goats. It’s all about working together, building resilience and long-term solutions to help withstand disasters.

As the Fall Armyworm continues to wreak havoc, the resilience that Patricia and her family have built has become essential for their survival. The pest has ruined their maize crop, but they now have other resources to cope.

However many thousands of other farming families will be left on the brink of ruin, because they have nothing else to fall back on. This latest disaster will hit them very hard.

In these fragile circumstances, your support today can help a family build the resilience to better cope with a crisis like this one.  Please give what you can.



STAGES OF RESILIENCE

STAGE 1

Growing just one
crop leaves families
at the mercy of a
disaster like the
Fall Armyworm, or
drought that can
destroy their entire
food supply.

STAGE 2

New crops and
farming techniques
spread risk. Farmers
may still struggle,
but growing different
crops for use and
sale helps reduce the
impact of disasters.

STAGE 3

Food, cash crops
and livestock
provides families
with opportunities to
run their small farms
as businesses, with
fall back options if a
new crisis arises.

Please help families in crisis

Help vulnerable farming families cope with disaster.