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 (x 2 = 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.

A Survey of Some Insect Pests of Cultivated Vegetables in Ajiwa Irrigation Site of Katsina State, Nigeria

“…Hornworm is the larval stage of the five-spotted hawk moth (Manduca quinquemaculata) of the family Sphingidae of Lepidoptera (Klass, 2012). Farmers' perception of insect type infesting fruit vegetables in Ogbomoso Agricultural Zone of Nigeria revealed similar findings that moth caterpillar is one of the serious pests damaging tomato fruits (Olaniran et al, 2014). Variegated cutworm (Peridroma saucia) was another pest that seriously attacked foliage of spinach and lettuce.…”

“…Presence of aphids on tomato agrees with the findings of some researchers like Umeh et al (2002) who reported aphids as the most occurred insect pest attacking tomato in six states of Nigeria. Another survey by Olaniran et al (2014) in Ogbomoso Agricultural Zone of Nigeria confirmed the occurrence of caterpillars such as hornworm infesting tomato and some other fruit vegetables, and also identified these pests as the most damaging pests of fruit vegetables in Africa. The findings of the study have shown that aphid had the highest percentage of occurrence which was found attacking leaves of tomato and sweet pepper.…”

“…Despite the importance of these crops, there are various constraints to their production which include high cost of inputs, transportation, accessibility to market, insect infestation and disease problems (Olaniran et al, 2014). Pests cause a lot of damage on crops including vegetables which reduce the quality and/or quantity of yield (Imam et al, 2010).…”

“…Farmers generally rated insect pests as the most serious problem because of the pest's significant effect to their crops by reducing the vegetable harvest (Olaniran et al, 2014). A good integrated pest management strategy employs correct identification of insect pests and good understanding of their biology as a key pillar to their control (Anyango, 2006).This involves monitoring the pest population as well as noting the stage of the insect development and only mobilizing control measures when the pest numbers reach the economic injury levels (Sithanantham et al, 2004).…”

“…Several insect pest surveys have been conducted in different parts of Nigeria (Oparaocha and Okigbo, 2003;Imam et al, 2010;Okunlola and Ofuya, 2010;Aderolu et al, 2013;Olaniran et al, 2014). However, information on the type of insect pests infesting vegetable grown at Ajiwa irrigation site of Katsina State, Nigeria is scarce.…”