Egypt launches campaigns to fight destructive Fall Armyworm in corn fields

CAIRO – 11 June 2026: In an effort to mitigate the severe agricultural and economic damage caused by the destructive Fall Armyworm (FAW), the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture has launched an urgent suite of counter-measures to halt its spread in corn fields.

According to a ministry statement issued on June 11, 2026, these measures include mandatory, periodic field inspections of corn crops to ensure early detection. The goal is to eradicate the pest before infestation levels reach the critical economic injury threshold.

Additionally, the ministry has directed the deployment of specialized agricultural control engineers to provide farmers with hands-on technical guidance regarding proper spraying methods and optimal control timing. The statement also emphasized that high-quality pesticides, recommended and approved by the Agricultural Pesticides Committee, are available in sufficient quantities at local agricultural departments and cooperative associations at subsidized, accessible prices to lift the burden on farmers.

In May 2019, the Agricultural Pesticide Committee (APC) of the Ministry of Agriculture reported the first case of FAW presence in a maize field in a village in Kom Ombo city of Aswan governorate, Upper Egypt. According to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) facts, the Fall Armyworm landed in Africa via a ship or a plane in 2016, invading more than 40 African countries since then. In June 2020 , the destructive worms infected a corn field in the village of Marashda in Upper Egypt’s Qena. The worm’s large destructive impact could push 300 million people into hunger in Africa.

Threats of Fall Armywarms

In July 2024, Hussein Abdel-Rahman Abu Saddam, Head of the General Syndicate of Farmers, sad that the FAW has devastated thousands of acres. He clarified that the FAW destroys more than 80 types of agricultural crops in Egypt, noting that it has entered Egypt in 2019 after it entered Africa in 2016 from America.

Abdul Rahman further highlighted that the ArmyWorm poses the greatest threat to corn crops in Egypt, with its speed reaching up to 100 km per day. The female insect lays approximately 2,000 eggs during its lifespan, which lasts about 30 days in the summer and up to 90 days in the winter.

These warms can travel more than 100 km overnight, and it is hard to pinpoint their locations and movements. They are steadily expanding in the warming climate of Upper Egypt.