The arrival of fall armyworm (FAW) in Africa could cause large losses in maize production and affect food security. A new and promising technology to control the pest in the early stages of the maize plant's development is a seed-coating with the insecticide Fortenza Duo, developed by Syngenta and demonstrated in trials and demonstrations during the 2018/19 season in Zambia. Given the urgency of countering the invasion, this study was designed as a rapid and low-cost participatory evaluation of the technology, taking advantage of existing trials and demonstrations while adjusting the standard methodology to fit their lay-out and the timing of the study. The study was organized around an existing trial at the Zambia Agricultural Research Institute, where 44 farmers were invited at mid- and end-seasons, and six on-farm demonstrations organized by Syngenta, where 202 farmers were invited at the end of the regular production season. These evaluations were supplemented with a survey of 153 randomly selected farmers who hosted the demonstrations, and another 162 farmers from the same villages as control. The results showed that farmers scored seed-coated maize plots higher than other non-treated plots during the mid-season evaluation of the trial, but not higher than plots treated with other pesticides. At the end-season, seed-coated maize received slightly higher scores in the overall evaluation but did not score differently for FAW resistance. During the evaluation of on-farm demonstrations, farmers scored the seed-coated maize higher than average for several criteria, in particular for germination/crop stand and resistance to FAW and stalk borer, but the demonstrations did not include a control of untreated maize for comparison purposes. During the survey, however, farmers observed that only 50% of fields with seed-coated maize got infested with FAW vs. 80% in the control. Further, in fields with seed-coated maize FAW infestations occurred about two weeks later than in untreated maize plots. When choosing maize varieties, farmers indicated that yield, grain weight and germination were very important attributes, followed by drought resistance, number of cobs and grain size and, in seventh place, resistance to FAW. When choosing pesticides, farmers listed four criteria as important: convenience, low health risk, low cost, and labor requirements, and listed one criterion, odor, as of minor importance. We concluded that farmers generally evaluated the technology positively. The technology is likely to decrease infestation and damage by FAW, and fit the criteria of farmers in selecting maize seed and pest control methods. However, the results were not conclusive as the demonstrations did not include a proper control.

秋粘虫（FAW）在非洲的到来可能导致玉米生产的巨大损失并影响粮食安全。在玉米植株发育的早期阶段控制害虫的一种新的、有前途的技术是一种由先正达开发的杀虫剂 Fortenza Duo 的种衣，并在赞比亚 2018/19 年度的试验和示范中得到了证明。鉴于对抗入侵的紧迫性，本研究旨在对该技术进行快速、低成本的参与式评估，利用现有的试验和示范，同时调整标准方法以适应其布局和研究时间。该研究是围绕赞比亚农业研究所的一项现有试验组织的，该研究所在中季和季末邀请了 44 名农民，先正达组织的六场农场示范活动，在正常生产季节结束时邀请了 202 名农民。除了这些评估之外，还对随机选择的 153 名主持示威的农民和另外 162 名来自同一村庄的农民进行了调查作为对照。结果表明，在试验的中期评估期间，农民对种衣玉米地块的评分高于其他未处理的地块，但不高于使用其他农药处理的地块。在季末，种衣玉米在总体评价中获得略高的分数，但在抗秋粘虫方面的得分没有差异。在农场示范评估期间，农民对种衣玉米的多项标准评分高于平均水平，特别是在发芽/作物立场以及对秋粘虫和茎螟的抗性方面，但示范不包括用于比较目的的未经处理的玉米对照。然而，在调查期间，农民观察到，只有 50% 的种衣玉米田受到秋粘虫侵染，而在对照中这一比例为 80%。此外，在有种衣玉米的田地中，秋粘虫侵染发生的时间比未处理的玉米地块晚大约两周。在选择玉米品种时，农民表示产量、粒重和发芽率是非常重要的属性，其次是抗旱性、玉米芯数和粒级，其次是抗秋粘虫性。在选择农药时，农民将四个标准列为重要标准：方便、低健康风险、低成本和劳动力要求，并列出一个标准，气味，列为次要标准。我们得出的结论是，农民普遍对该技术给予了积极评价。该技术有可能减少秋粘虫的侵染和损害，符合农民选择玉米种子和病虫害防治方法的标准。然而，结果并不是决定性的，因为演示没有包括适当的控制。