author(s)
Gebissa Yigezu and Mulatu Wakgari

abstract
Fall Armyworm (FAW) (Spodoptera frugiperda) is a polyphagous insect pest. It is a dangerous pest that attacked more than 80 plant species commonly maize, sorghum, and rice. It caused a major economic loss on these important cultivated crops in Sub-Saharan African countries where the yield losses of maize estimated up to $US13 billion per annum after 2018. It posed a threat to food security, nutrition, and livelihoods. The management practices of this pest by synthetic pesticides also affected human health, natural enemies and the environment negatively. The farmers practiced different management which was varied across countries, regions, and places. These practices were safe for the environment and human health. However, there was no adequate documented information on the indigenous knowledge of farmers in different places and across countries. Therefore, this review paper has emphasized on local and indigenous knowledge of farmers against FAW. The farmers applied different locally available knowledge such as handpicking, killing of larvae, adding soil to plant whorls, drenching tobacco extracts, destroying ratoon host crops, early planting, deep plowing to kill pupae, placing sand or ash in the whorls, burn stubbles after harvesting of infested crops, intercropping and sowing multiple varieties and rotation of maize with non-host crops. This work is to encourage subsistence farmers of developing countries to exchange their various local knowledge and experiences in the management of the notorious FAW especially in maize production.