CROP PESTS
Control Measures of Crop Pests
A number of different methods are used by farmer on their farm to reduce the incidence of pest attack. Some of these methods are:
Early planting and harvesting of crops: Farmers should cultivate the act of planting and harvesting early so as to reduce pest attack.
Crop rotation: Farmers should cultivate different crops year-after-year on a piece of land thereby reducing pest population.
Use of resistant varieties of crops: Scientists have developed improved varieties of crops which can resist or repel crop pest without affecting yield.
Hand picking and crushing of insect pest: Insect pest like grasshopper can be handpicked and crushed by farmers before they spread to other crops.
Application of insecticides: Insecticides in form of dust, solutions, and fumigations, etc., can be applied using appropriate sprayer to kill insect.
Trapping and shooting: Traps can be set on the farm to capture or kill crop pests. Also, farmers can shoot mammals with guns. Pests that can be eradicated through this measure include rodents, birds, monkeys, mollusks (snails), etc.
Fencing and baiting with poison: Fence can be erected to prevent entry of pests into the farm land. Rodents (rats) can be killed with poisonous baits known as rodenticides.
Good farm sanitation: Farmers should maintain a clean farm by regular weeding and clearing of plant debris on the farm.
Common and Scientific Names of some Crop Pest
Common names Scientific names
- Bean beetle Callosobruchus maculates
- Aphid Aphis craccivora
- Grain weevils Sitophilus oryzae or Sitophilus zea
- Thrips (Onion Thrips) Thrips tabaci
- Cotton stainer Dysdercus superstitiosus
- Grasshopper Zonocerus variegates
- Whitefly Bemisia tabaci
- Mealy bug Planococus manihoti or Planococus citri
- Capsids Distantiella theobromae
- Stem borers Busseola fusca or Sesamia calamistis
ASSIGNMENT
Describe the nature of damage done by crop pests.
Mention five (5) insect pests and the scientific name of each.