Bayer Vietnam recommends effective integrated pest management to tackle fall armyworm

FAW-free corn fields grown with Bayer’s corn hybrids DK6919S

In the 2019 Spring-Summer season, while fall armyworm (FAW) devastated conventional corn fields in the north of Vietnam, corn fields planted with insect management hybrids DK6919S or DK9955S of Bayer still developed healthily.

FAW devour corn fields in northern Vietnam and north-central region

The insect (FAW) has been found in the Americas, Brazil, Africa, and most recently, it was detected in Asian countries including Vietnam. FAW damages have been reported across all provinces of northern of Vietnam, such as Son La, Hoa Binh, Hanoi, Thai Nguyen, Tuyen Quang, Phu Tho, Vinh Phuc, Nghe An, Thanh Hoa, and caused heavy damage to corn farmers.

FAW has devastated many conventional corn fields in northern Vietnam

Because FAW moths can fly up to 100km a night, they can quickly migrate from the north to the south, right at the planting window season in May-June. Average yield loss is estimated at 30-60 per cent, which can sometimes reach 100 per cent without effective pest management solutions.

Effective integrated pest management to tackle FAW recommended by Bayer Vietnam

As a global company operating in 90 countries, Bayer Vietnam has been able to promptly offer Vietnamese farmers the most effective integrated pest management (IPM) system based on its global experience.

“As soon as FAW was detected in Vietnam, Bayer Vietnam has joined hands with corn farmers in the north to find the most suitable IPM solutions. On seed solutions, all fields planted with our insect management corn hybrids DK 6919S and DK 9955S showed outstanding performance – clean fields, healthy corn stalks, almost no impact of FAW,” said Kohei Sakata, general director of Bayer Vietnam.

“At affected conventional corn fields, we have recommended farmers the most effective AI to minimise FAW impacts on corn as well as the potential spread to other crops.”

DK6919S and DK9955S corn hybrids – Perfect duo to protect corn from FAW

Growing corn in a region heavily affected by FAW, farmer Ngo Van Sai was lucky to have chosen DK 6919S and DK9955S instead of corn types like in the previous seasons.

“On the same fields, I planted both conventional and insect management hybrids and experienced huge differences. While FAW devoured 80 per cent of my conventional corn, they did not even touch the DK 6919S and DK 9955S corn field,” said Sai.

Bayer’s corn hybrids DK6919S and DK9955S expressing Cry1A.105 and Cry2Ab2 have been approved for cultivation nationwide since 2015. These hybrids offer two modes of action against FAW and have better levels of efficacy than other Bayer corn hybrids which express only single cry genes.

This technology helps to protect crops throughout the growing season and has proved its outstanding insect management capabilities in many other countries apart from Vietnam during the 2019 Spring-Summer season.

“In the next season, I will choose exclusively DK 6919S and DK 9955S so that I do not have to worry about pests. That will help me to not only save cost and labour, but also maximise my yield potential,” Sai shared.