225  Egyptian farmers complete a program to combat Red Palm Weevil via 11 Farmers Field School

The FFS graduation ceremonies were organized in New Valley Governorate, with 5 FFSs in Dakhla Oasis and Paris Oasis, 2 FFSs in Aswan Governorate, 3 FFSs in Siwa Oasis in Marsa Matrouh Governorate, and one FFS in Bahariya Oasis in Giza Governorate.

The graduation ceremonies were attended by representatives of FAO, the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture, representatives of the governorates, officials of the city councils where the ceremonies were held, in addition to representatives of civil society organizations, palm and pest control experts, FFS facilitators, farmers and stakeholders.

“Egypt ranks first in the world in date production, in 2022, studies on assessing the economic and social impact of the red palm weevil in Egypt showed that RPW was detected on 94% of date palm farms, and the estimated annual cost of on-going RPW treatment programs is USD 5.7 million, while the annual value of lost date palms and associated forgone revenues is up to USD 213 million” said Thaer Yaseen FAO Regional Plant Protection Officer for the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region.

“Over the past few years, an integrated management and control program of RPW has been developed in Egypt and NENA region. FFS is a major activity of this program, focusing specifically on combating the red palm weevil and applying good practices for serving the palm tree, which contributes significantly to reducing the damage caused by this weevil. FFS have succeeded in largely spreading awareness and motivating farmers to apply scientific methods in combating this insect” Yaseen added.

It is worth noting that around 90 percent of the world's dates are grown in the NENA region, and nearly 50 million farmers’ livelihoods are affected by the RPW, while EUR 480 million worth of date palms are destroyed in the Mediterranean countries each year.

The FAO RPW eradication program “GCP/RNE/012/MUL” is a five-year project that aims to contribute to the ongoing efforts to manage the RPW in the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region. The project was designed to develop the necessary strategies, plans, tools, and technologies to assist NENA countries in sustainably managing the RPW through three major thematic areas: i) governance ii) capacity building; and iii) transfer of knowledge and technology.