The invasive pest, Fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda J.E. Smith), was confirmed as being present in Ghana in 2016. In response to the fall armyworm outbreak, different stakeholders joined hands like the Plant Protection and Regulatory Services Directorate (PPRSD) of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), Environment Protection Agency (EPA), Biopesticides suppliers and manufacturers, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Universities and CABI. The main initiatives supported included the development of a national fall armyworm management plan; a collaborative effort with PPRSD and various stakeholders. To learn more about the results of this collaboration, we are interested in hearing your experiences and opinions. To this end, we have developed an inquiry. The results of this inquiry can be found in this report. The results of the inquiry will help to signpost the main strengths that enabled the response process, to inform future preparedness akin to asking the question ‘How ready are we for a similar challenge in the near future?.

Each respondent is represented by one dot. Clicking on that dot reveals the story shared by that respondent, allowing you also to follow their answers throughout the inquiry. Clicking on the dot a second time returns it to normal size.

In total, 130 respondents have filled in the story inquiry about the Fall Armyworm response in Ghana. 23 respondents are central government civil servants, 58 local governments civil servants, 33 farmers, 3 NGO representatives, 1 chief/local opinion leader, 2 input dealers, 8 researchers and 1 journalist. The civil servants were asked to specify which role they fulfil at the government level. Of the 81 civil servants in total, 39 are agricultural extension officers, 20 district officers, 12 regional officers, 4 unit heads, 3 district directors and 1 national officer. No director, chief director or regional directors filled in the inquiry.

Respondents come from 61 different districts across Ghana. In total, 111 men and 19 women of different ages filled in the inquiry. Respondents have different levels of education. 3 respondents have no education. 3 respondents have primary school level education, 11 junior high school, 11 senior high school, 5- undergraduate (university, college of education) and 20 postgraduate education.

The respondents were asked to start with sharing an important experience they observed or were part of with regards to the Fall Armyworm response in Ghana. The majority of these stories were about Awareness (48%), Research and management (28%) and Surveillance (17%). A few stories were shared about Collaboration (5%) and Policy (1%).

81% of respondents stated that the experiences described in their story are very positive. Three respondents shared negative stories (2%). These stories were shared by two farmers and one input dealer and included experiences with the FAW eating their crops. Although there are not many female respondents, they seem to have shared slightly more positive stories than male respondents. The majority of the experiences took place on different levels. 93% of the stories took place at the local or community level. 33% of the stories took place at the partner level and 29% at the national level. Logically, civil servants working at district level and agricultural extension officers mainly shared experiences on the local/community level.

Respondents were asked to share which actors they considered to be essential to the changes in their stories. Farmers were selected as essential to the change by 80% of respondents. 70% selected central government/public sector, 50% input dealers, 47% researchers, 41% local government and 35% NGOs. Private sector, journalists and development partners were mentioned least. Respondents who are farmers most frequently selected central government, whereas central government and local government civil servants considered farmers to be the most essential actors in the changes they described. Respondents were also asked to indicate how significant the experience they described is for the national response to FAW in Ghana. The majority of the respondents indicated that they see high significance (83%). One respondent stated that the experience is not at all significant.

28% of the stories shared were about research and management. These stories were mainly shared by civil servants from central and local governments, farmers and researchers. They were asked what they felt about the experience they shared about the management of FAW in Ghana. Respondents could select multiple answers. 89% of respondents shared they felt knowledgeable and informed. 59% of respondents felt involved and 48% empowered. Central government civil servants mainly felt knowledgeable, hopeful and involved. Respondents were also asked to what extent they think research, in general, played a role in finding effective management solutions to the FAW in Ghana. 59% think research very much played a role and 27% thought research did not play a role at all. In their experiences, respondents shared synthetic chemicals (73%) and cultural practices (73%) were most frequently used as FAW management method, more than biological control (51%) or biorationals (30%).

Respondents were asked what drove the change in farmer management options, choosing between better information on management techniques, improved surveillance and/or better distribution mechanisms. The majority of respondents chose better information on management techniques. Some chose a combination of better information and improved surveillance and a few chose mainly improved surveillance. Researchers mainly selected better information on management techniques. Respondents were also asked which components of the research effort played the biggest part in the FAW response: financing, personnel or facilities. The majority of the respondents selected (a combination of) financing or personnel.

17% of the stories shared were about surveillance. These stories were mainly shared by farmers and civil servants from local and central government. 47% of respondents thought that the monitoring/surveillance they described in their stories to manage FAW was very effective. 28% of respondents considered surveillance to be very ineffective. Respondents were also asked whether they thought the monitoring was difficult to carry out or not. No respondents considered the monitoring too difficult to carry out. Of the civil servants who responded, the regional officers found the monitoring easier to carry out than the agricultural extension officers, district officers and district directors. 87% of respondents shared that scouting was the best method for monitoring and surveillance for them. Pheromone traps were selected by 46% of respondents and use of farmers mobile app by 9%. Respondents also shared what they thought could be done differently in the monitoring and surveillance of FAW.

48% of the stories shared were about awareness. These stories were mainly shared by civil servants from central and local governments, farmers, NGO representatives and input dealers. Respondents were asked how they felt after the awareness creation activities were implemented on FAW prevention, detection and control options. Multiple answers were possible. 97% of respondents stated that they felt knowledgeable and informed, 57% felt empowered, 54% felt involved, 37% felt prepared and 19% felt hopeful. No respondents felt frustrated, disappointed or annoyed. Respondents also shared what they thought could be done differently in awareness creation to make it more effective and to reach more farmers.

Respondents were asked to what extent they think awareness creation about the FAW in Ghana was sufficient. 52% of respondents think that awareness creation was very sufficient. 15% of respondents think awareness creation was not sufficient at all. This was mainly indicated by farmers and local government civil servants. Respondents were also asked whether they received the information about FAW on time for them to take action against FAW. For 71% of respondents, information about FAW received in good time. 7% of respondents selected that information was much too late. This was selected by one civil servant from the central government, one input dealer and two farmers.

Respondents were asked to rank the activities in FAW awareness in the order of usefulness. On average, the ranking of the activities is: training, seminars by extension, information materials, public sensitisation meetings, symposiums, media activities.

5% of the stories shared were about collaboration. These stories were shared by farmers, civil servants from a local government and one researcher. Respondents were asked what, in their experience, influenced the success of the joint effort on FAW the most: financing, personnel and/or facilities. Personnel and facilities were mainly selected. Two respondents selected all three options. For farmers, personnel was seen as most influential, whereas local government civil servants mainly selected facilities. 43% of respondents considered the joint effort to be very effective and 43% considered it very ineffective.

Apart from the questions to the respondents who shared stories about collaboration, additional questions about collaboration were asked to all respondents. All respondents were asked which elements they consider necessary for successful collaboration: trust, commitment and/or clear benefits. In the tripole, six clusters can be identified. Most respondents selected commitment as the main element for successful collaboration. Smaller groups of respondents stated they considered trust or clear benefits to be most necessary, others selected a combination of trust and commitment, clear benefits and commitment or all three options. For civil servants from the central government, commitment and clear benefits were the main elements for successful collaboration. For researchers, trust and commitment were most necessary. Other groups are spread across the tripole.

All respondents were asked how the collaborative efforts of the FAW response made them feel. 83% of respondents stated that the collaborative efforts made them feel empowered, 78% felt involved, 62% felt prepared, 27% felt hopeful and 13% felt inspired. Anxious and disappointed were selected by one or two respondents. Frustrated, confused and annoyed were not selected. One respondent shared an additional feeling of satisfaction. Civil servants from central government most frequently selected feeling involved, civil servants from local government and researchers most frequently selected feeling empowered, and farmers mostly selected feeling prepared.

80% of respondents think the collaboration between the different stakeholders in the national response to FAW has strengthened enormously since the start of the project. Two respondents think the collaboration between the different stakeholders has become a lot worse. These respondents are civil servants from the central government.

Only 1 respondent, a civil servant from the central government, selected that the experience they shared about FAW was about policy. The follow-up question for respondents who shared experiences about policy asked whether their stories were more about the development of low-risk control measures, the development of surveillance systems or policy coordination and strategic planning. The respondent stated that their story was mainly about policy coordination and strategic planning.

More questions about policy were asked to all civil servants participating in the inquiry. They were asked whether the policy changes are more of a shift in thinking or a full implementation of change. 40% of respondents thought there is a full implementation of change and 22% thought it was mainly a shift in thinking. It was mainly civil servants at the local government who considered it to be a full implementation of change.

Apart from sharing their experiences and reflecting on those, respondents were also asked broader questions about the lessons learned from the FAW response. Respondents were asked what they considered the most important condition for achieving the change in the FAW response: formal task force structure, shared goals and ownership, or increased collaboration and communication. The majority selected increased collaboration and communication, sometimes in combination with a formal task force and shared goals and ownership. Only a few respondents selected only formal task force structure or only shared goals and ownership. Respondents were asked whether they think the interventions and activities of the FAW response were the right ones. 79% of respondents consider the interventions to be exactly what was needed. No respondents think that the interventions did not fit at all.

77% of respondents assessed the central government’s response to the FAW to be very effective and elaborated on their answers.

Respondents were asked what they considered the most important requirement for a continued FAW response in the future: knowledge and skills, funding and/or collaboration and communication. Five clusters of respondents can be identified in the answers. Large parts of the respondents share mainly funding or mainly knowledge and skills. Another smaller group says mainly collaboration and communication and another group says all three elements. A small group considers knowledge and skills and funding to be most important for the future. Farmers mainly selected one of the three options, whereas central government civil servants mainly selected a combination of the three elements. For local government civil servants, funding is most frequently selected.

Respondents were asked how likely they think it is that the changes in the FAW response will still be there in five years. 48% of respondents think that it is very likely that the changes in FAW response will still be there, 24% of respondents think it is not likely at all that the changes will still be there in five years’ time. The majority of those who think that the changes will not last are farmers. All researchers and journalists who responded think that the changes will last, all input dealers and NGO representatives who responded are not sure.

68% of respondents state that they feel ready for a similar challenge like the FAW in the near future. 5% of respondents state that they do not feel ready at all. The respondents who do not feel ready are mainly farmers and civil servants from local government. On average, farmers indicate to feel prepared for similar challenges in the future to a higher extent than other groups. Respondents who shared experiences about the topic of collaboration all stated to feel very much ready for the future. Respondents also share advice they would give those responding to future invasive species outbreaks.