Farmers' perceptions of importance, control practices and alternative hosts of maize stemborers in Uganda

Abstract

A survey was conducted in Tororo, Bugiri and Kapchorwa districts in eastern and northeastern Uganda on farmers' perceptions of constraints in maize production. Farmers in Tororo and Bugiri consistently ranked stemborers and striga as the major production constraints in maize growing, while those in Kapchorwa ranked stemborers and lack of capital as the most important. Approximately 35 and 40% of the farmers in Tororo and Bugiri, respectively, identified stemborers as the 'caterpillar' that destroys their maize. In Kapchorwa, 50% of the farmers identified stemborers. Pesticide application was the most common control measure while the use of indigenous and cultural control measures was limited. Less than 50% of the farmers were aware of the existence of alternative plants/grasses on which stemborers feed. This study identified the need for creating farmers' awareness on the biology and ecology of stemborers. Empowering farmers by letting them learn and experiment will facilitate the development of innovative control measures.Résumé. Une enquête a été conduite dans les districts de Tororo, Bugiri et Kapchorwa dans l'est et le nord est de l'Ouganda afin d'évaluer la perception qu'ont les fermiers des principales contraintes de production du maïs. Les fermiers des districts de Tororo et Bugiri considèrent les foreurs et le striga comme les contraintes majeures de production du maïs alors que ceux de Kapchorwa considèrent que les foreurs et le manque d'argent sont plus importants. Environ 35 et 40% des fermiers de Tororo et Bugiri respectivement ont établit le lien entre les foreurs et les chenilles qui attaquent leur maïs; à Kapchorwa ils sont près de 50%. La pulvérisation d'insecticide est la méthode de contrôle la plus communément utilisée alors que les méthodes culturales et traditionnelles sont peu appliquées. Moins de 50% des fermiers connaissent l'existence de plantes alternatives sur lesquelles se nourrissent les foreurs. Cette étude a permis de souligner le besoin d'informer les fermiers sur la biologie et l'écologie des foreurs. Donner la possibilité aux fermiers d'apprendre et de tester par euxmêmes devrait faciliter le développement de mesures de contrôles novatrices.

An Environmental Justice Perspective on Smallholder Pesticide Use in Sub-Saharan Africa

“…First, it is worth emphasizing that the problem of crop losses to pests is a real and serious one, which affects rural people's capabilities. Several Ugandan studies underscore that farmers see pests and diseases as the primary production challenge for numerous crops, such as rice (Alibu et al, 2016), potato (Namugga et al, 2017;Okonya & Kroschel, 2016), sweet potato (Okonya et al 2014) maize (Kalule et al 2006), and tomato (Karungi et al, 2016). Climate change is exacerbating pest problems in many parts of SSA, rendering pesticide adoption a kind of adaptation strategy (Mulinde et al, 2019;Okonya et al, 2013).…”

“…One possible explanation is that some researchers interested in pesticides purposively select settings where they expect to find it, and indeed, pesticide use varies considerably with locality, cropping system, and production orientation. On the other hand, as in several other countries (Williamson et al., 2008), pesticides have been found to be commonly used not only in “expected” cases such as production of vegetables (e.g., tomatoes, peppers) and export crops such as coffee but also on staple crops such as potato (Okonya & Kroschel, 2016), sweet potato (Okonya et al., 2014), and maize (Ashour et al., 2019; Kalule et al., 2006). The three recent studies that contain primary survey data on overall pesticide use (Clausen et al., 2017; Muleme et al., 2017; Oesterlund et al., 2014) observed it among almost all farmers sampled, a picture that is further supported by cross-country surveys by Uganda National Association of Community and Occupational Health (Buyinza, 2019).…”

“…Several Ugandan studies underscore that farmers see pests and diseases as the primary production challenge for numerous crops, such as rice (Alibu et al., 2016), potato (Namugga et al., 2017; Okonya & Kroschel, 2016), sweet potato (Okonya et al. 2014) maize (Kalule et al. 2006), and tomato (Karungi et al., 2016).…”