Rural Farmers’ Perceptions, Knowledge and Management of Insect Pests of Fruit Vegetables in Ogbomoso Agricultural Zone of Nigeria

Abstract

Surveys were carried out in five local government areas of Ogbomoso Agricultural Zone Nigeria during planting season in 2010 to investigate rural farmers perceptions and management practices of insect pests of fruit vegetables. The survey involved 150 randomly selected farmers who were interviewed using structured questionnaire. Fruit vegetables planted by the farmers were okra, tomatoes, pepper and garden egg. Reasons given by farmers for cultivating fruit vegetables were significantly favored by age category, educational qualification, and secondary occupation of farmers (x2 = 4.757, P = 0.029). Field insect pests were perceived as the major production constraint to fruit vegetables in this zone. Majority of the farmer estimated 78.4 % rated insect pest as the most serious pest infesting fruit vegetables, the insect pests were grasshopper (Orthoptera), beetles (Coleoptera) and caterpillar (Lepidoptera). Integrated pest management module consisted basically of chemical and cultural control strategies, with weeding, shifting cultivation and crop rotation as main cultural control methods. More than 76.7 % of the farmers make use of cultural control because of unavailability and cost of chemical insecticides. Only 23.3 % had access to chemical insecticides in controlling insect pest of fruit vegetables.

Grasshopper (Orthoptera: Acridomorpha) diversity in response to fallow-land use in southern Cameroon with recommendations for land management

“…Of the species found in the forests in the same region in southern Cameroon ( Oumarou-Ngoute et al 2020 ), one ( Serpusia opacula ) was ‘less abundant’ in the fallow-land, while the rest were rare or absent, including Mazaea granulosa , the most common species in the forests that was not found in the fallow-land at all. The species that increase ( Z. variegatus , E. plorans , and C. sylvestris ), which are known as crop pests ( Okunlola and Ofuya 2010 , Oladele et al 2014 ), find suitable environments for their development ( Nkwala et al 2019 ).…”