Farmers can help to keep the balance in their favour in trying not to harm predatory arthropods such as ladybirds, spiders and hover fly larvae which feed on plant-eating pests such as aphids and caterpillars. Some of the ways to do this are: Use control pesticide products only when necessary and then not broad spectrum […]
Author Archives: sukahumbu
Ch 1: Natural enemies
Credit: Infonet Biovision / Wam K Dennler Natural Enemies are Farmers’ Friends. The natural enemies of plant pests are considered as farmers’ friends. Various beneficial organisms that can help the farmer to keep pests (and some diseases) under control and prevent them from causing economic damage. Areas of land which have not been cultivated or […]
Ch 14: Economic limitations of pesticides as a management option
Spraying insecticides early in the crop cycle are most likely to kill off the natural enemies and may not be economical. The policy by some governments to give away pesticides to maize farmers to combat FAW or to organize spraying squads may be starting smallholder maize farmers on a pesticide treadmill that may well have negative […]
Ch 13: Pesticide contamination of the environment- water, soil, air and food.
Some pesticides survive in the environment longer than others and do not breakdown for a considerable period of time. They can be transported by water and air over long distances. This ability is called“persistence”. Persistent pesticides tend to bioaccumulate in animals and humans and thus biomagnify (i.e. they concentrate as they move from one trophic […]
Ch 12: HHPs reported as in use on Fall Armyworm in Africa
FAO has received various indications that the following highly hazardous pesticides have been used or recommended for use to control Fall Armyworm in African countries: In addition, the use of pyrethroids and neonicotinoids has been reported to control Fall Armyworm. It should be noted that resistance development though the use of pyrethroids is a concern […]
Ch 11: Avoid the use of highly hazardous pesticides on the Fall Armyworm
The use of highly hazardous pesticides (HHPs) to control Fall Armyworm (FAW) has been reported in several African countries. Under the conditions of use prevailing in these countries, HHPs pose great concerns for human health and the environment. It should be noted that: FAO has been mandated by the Council in 2006 and again in […]
Ch 10: Selection of pesticides: are all pesticides the same?
Some pesticides are more toxic than others. In technical terms, pesticides that have a high acute or chronic toxicity, or hazard to the environment are called highly hazardous pesticides.6 Under the current prevailing condition of use in African countries, it is advisable to primarily avoid the use of highly hazardous pesticides. Fortunately, only a relatively small […]
Ch 9: Synthetic pesticides
What are pesticides? Pesticides are substances used to kill or repel insects, diseases, plants, animals (rats, mice…) and other living organisms which are invasive, harmful and cause damage and therefore are considered to be pests.Pesticides are however also toxic to people and non-target organisms, and pollute the environment. Their handling, use and disposal always require special […]
Ch 8:Use of introduced bio-control agents
In addition to conservation biological control (relying on and protecting the natural enemies which are locally present, as explained above), other approaches include for instance classical biological control(importing natural enemies from elsewhere and establishing them in farmers fields) and augmentative biological control (supplementing the numbers of naturally-occurring natural enemies with releases of natural enemies reared in labs or collected in […]
Ch 7: Predators of the FAW
In this category you find natural enemies that kill one or several individuals of FAW during their life time either as larvae or adults. In this case, eggs, caterpillars, pupae or adult FAW are considered as preys. Usually predators are non-selective or generalists, thus they feed opportunistically on more than one host species, sometimes even […]