scholarly journals Different controlling methods of fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) in maize farms of small-scale producers in Cameroon

2021 ◽  
Vol 911 (1) ◽  
pp. 012053
Author(s):  
Cyril Njume Akeme ◽  
Christopher Ngosong ◽  
Sally Alloh Sumbele ◽  
Aslan Aslan ◽  
Aaron Suh Tening ◽  
...  

Abstract Fall armyworm (FAW) is a polyphagous and voracious pest, destroying maize plants in farms in Cameroon. An annual yield loss is estimated to range from15 to 78%, valued at US$ 2,481 to US$ 6,187 million. With most damage experienced in the mono-cropping system. Maize is the most widely grown cereal crop globally due to its several uses, namely human consumption, animal feed and biofuel. In Cameroon, maize is a staple food grown by small- scale producers in all ten regions. The control of FAW is unsuccessful with only the use of pesticide method, the application is knowledge-intensive, and misuse often leads to pesticide resistance, resurgence and increased production cost. The purpose of this review was to explore the different controlling methods adopted to suppress FAW from causing economic damage in maize farms of small-scale producers in Cameroon. Integrated pest management (IPM) approach was used to control FAW, including cultural control, chemical control, botanicals, push-pull farming system, biological control and indigenous knowledge. Results showed that push-pull farming system provides protection and improves maize nutrition, botanicals have similar efficacy like synthetic insecticide, and wood ash is a bio-pesticide. The combined application of pesticides and handpicking FAW was effective though feasible in small surface areas. Based on the general assessment, the push-pull farming system deserves to be promoted due to its numerous benefits: eco-friendly, enhancement of natural enemies, increased soil fertility and economic returns. Natural enemies and bio-pesticides application are essential to control FAW since farmers are resource-poor, causes no health problem and are environmentally friendly.

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard M. Friend ◽  
Samarthia Thankappan ◽  
Bob Doherty ◽  
Nay Aung ◽  
Astrud L. Beringer ◽  
...  

Agricultural and food systems in the Mekong Region are undergoing transformations because of increasing engagement in international trade, alongside economic growth, dietary change and urbanisation. Food systems approaches are often used to understand these kinds of transformation processes, with particular strengths in linking social, economic and environmental dimensions of food at multiple scales. We argue that while the food systems approach strives to provide a comprehensive understanding of food production, consumption and environmental drivers, it is less well equipped to shed light on the role of actors, knowledge and power in transformation processes and on the divergent impacts and outcomes of these processes for different actors. We suggest that an approach that uses food systems as heuristics but complements it with attention to actors, knowledge and power improves our understanding of transformations such as those underway in the Mekong Region. The key transformations in the region include the emergence of regional food markets and vertically integrated supply chains that control increasing share of the market, increase in contract farming particularly in the peripheries of the region, replacement of crops cultivated for human consumption with corn grown for animal feed. These transformations are increasingly marginalising small-scale farmers, while at the same time, many other farmers increasingly pursue non-agricultural livelihoods. Food consumption is also changing, with integrated supply chains controlling substantial part of the mass market. Our analysis highlights that theoretical innovations grounded in political economy, agrarian change, development studies and rural livelihoods can help to increase theoretical depth of inquiries to accommodate the increasingly global dimensions of food. As a result, we map out a future research agenda to unpack the dynamic food system interactions and to unveil the social, economic and environmental impacts of these rapid transformations. We identify policy and managerial implications coupled with sustainable pathways for change.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 68-75
Author(s):  
Adina Daniela Tărău ◽  
Camelia Urdă ◽  
Felicia Mureşanu ◽  
Felicia Chețan ◽  
Vasile Oltean ◽  
...  

"Soybean is an important economical crop used for human consumption, animal feed and industrial raw material. Also, soybean is succesfully used in crop roatations with the main cereal crops because it’s biological nitrogen-fixing capabilities. A great diversity of pests and diseases including nematodes, insects and phytopathogenic fungi are known to affect soybean crop. From plant emergence to grain maturity, pests Tetranychus urticae and Etiella zinckenella, pseudofungi Peronospora manshurica and fungi Fusarium sp. and Botrytis cinerea can cause economic damage. In this study was evaluated the influence of tillage systems, different types of fertilizers and pesticide treatments on the most economical important diseases and pests of soybean crop in a field experiment at Agricultural Research and Development Station (ARDS Turda) in the climatic conditions of 2020. Teo TD, an early maturing soybean variety created at ARDS Turda, was used for the experiment. Based on the assessments made, soil tillage system, fertilization and control of pests and diseases have differently influenced the downy mildew and T. urticae attack. To reduce the attack of pathogens in soybean crop, the best technological option is plowing, balanced fertilization and application of fungicides, either without or in combination with an insecticide. The T. urticae populations developed on mineral, organic and green fertilized plants. Integrated control methods must combine agro-technical measures with the application of chemical treatments in accordance with the warning of the appearance of the first adults. "


2006 ◽  
Vol 60 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 417-421
Author(s):  
Maja Markovic ◽  
Ksenija Palic

The presence of natural enemies of fish can result in huge economic damage to fish ponds. Direct damages result from the fact that ichthyophagous bird species are capable of eating large quantities of fish in a short time interval, or can cause mechanical injuries to fish which later on become ideal places for the development of secondary infections. In the surviving fish, depending on the depth of the lesions, the healing process takes place either by regeneration or substitution. More serious, bigger damaged areas heal with a scar that can lead to the deforming of parts of the body, and consumers find such fish, which are generally used for human consumption, repellent. According to Schaperclaus, birds can cause even more than 60% losses in carp breeding ponds, in particular in objects where carp fry are maintained. Indirect damages occur when the bird organs are inhabited by larvae or other forms of parasites, which reach the water through feces, and later become fish pathogens through transitory hosts.


1995 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 133-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tahir Hussain ◽  
Ghulam Jilani ◽  
James F. Parr ◽  
Riaz Ahmad

AbstractNitrogen, a vitally important plant nutrient, is subject to various losses that affect its efficiency. We tested prilled urea (PU), urea supergranules (USG), green manures (GM) and farmyard manure (FYM) in a rice-wheat cropping system to determine which were the most efficient and economical N sources. The maximum rice growth, yield and N-uptake occurred with USG and with GM (Sesbania rostrata) plus PU. Incorporation of GM saved 60 kg N/ha. On the following wheat crop, GM (S. aculeata) plus PU and FYM plus PU had the highest residual effect on the number of tillers per m2, and straw and grain yield. An increase in N recovery efficiency occurred with combined use of PUand organic Igreen manures compared with PU alone. In areas where USG is costly or unavailable and FYM is scarce, green manures can be a cheap N source that allows small-scale farmers to get sustainable yields in a rice-wheat rotation.


There is a need for a quantitative assessment of the factors that determine the water balance of each part of an area, cultivated or under natural vegetation, and of their variability in time and space. These factors are rainfall, soil physical characteristics, potential evaporation and topography, the latter acting on surface and/or subsurface inflow and outflow. Knowledge needs to be assembled as to how to handle the rainfall received in an area. This aspect covers infiltration rates, methods to temporarily impound water on the field, knowledge about rates of water use and water recovery in small-scale storage reservoirs. The next step is to ensure a careful use of water through a judicious choice of the cropping and farming systems and by methods of land preparation and of the timing and choice of farming operations. It is important to increase the efficiency of water use through the choice of crops and varieties, by elimination of non-water factors limiting optimal growth and development of crops, by adequate crop protection and by adopting suitable harvest procedures. Energy inputs into the farming system are to be adjusted to the desired level of production. Among the socio-economic factors that affect the economic use of water, are matters of land ownership and availability of credit for low volume investment. The definition of the correct level of water conservation during a given cropping season is dependent on the requirements of other components of the cropping system, notably of the production of crops on adjacent low lying lands, usually cultivated from the end of the rainy season onwards. Out of season (November-February) irrigated crops on relatively small areas may contribute very significantly to agricultural production during a period when water requirements are relatively low.


Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1074
Author(s):  
Bonoukpoè Mawuko Sokame ◽  
Boaz Musyoka ◽  
Julius Obonyo ◽  
François Rebaudo ◽  
Elfatih M. Abdel-Rahman ◽  
...  

The interactions among insect communities influence the composition of pest complexes that attack crops and, in parallel, their natural enemies, which regulate their abundance. The lepidopteran stemborers have been the major maize pests in Kenya. Their population has been regulated by natural enemies, mostly parasitoids, some of which have been used for biological control. It is not known how a new exotic invasive species, such as the fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae), may affect the abundance and parasitism of the resident stemborers. For this reason, pest and parasitism surveys have been conducted, before and after the FAW invaded Kenya, in maize fields in 40 localities across 6 agroecological zones (AEZs) during the maize-growing season, as well as at 3 different plant growth stages (pre-tasseling, reproductive, and senescence stages) in 2 elevations at mid-altitude, where all maize stemborer species used to occur together. Results indicated that the introduction of the FAW significantly correlated with the reduction of the abundance of the resident communities of maize stemborers and parasitoids in maize fields; moreover, the decrease of stemborer density after the arrival of FAW occurred mostly at both reproductive and senescent maize stages. It also suggests a possible displacement of stemborers by FAW elsewhere; for example, to other cereals. However, since this study was conducted only three years after the introduction of the FAW, further studies will need to be conducted to confirm such displacements.


Author(s):  
Léna Durocher-Granger ◽  
Tibonge Mfune ◽  
Monde Musesha ◽  
Alyssa Lowry ◽  
Kathryn Reynolds ◽  
...  

AbstractInvasive alien species have environmental, economic and social impacts, disproportionally threatening livelihood and food security of smallholder farmers in low- and medium-income countries. Fall armyworm (FAW) (Spodoptera frugiperda), an invasive insect pest from the Americas, causes considerable losses on maize to smallholder farmers in Africa since 2016. The increased use of pesticides to control FAW in Africa raises concerns for health and environmental risks resulting in a growing interest in research on biological control options for smallholder farmers. In order to evaluate the occurrence of local natural enemies attacking FAW, we collected on a weekly basis FAW eggs and larvae during a maize crop cycle in the rainy season of 2018–2019 at four locations in the Lusaka and Central provinces in Zambia. A total of 4373 larvae and 162 egg masses were collected. For each location and date of collection, crop stage, the number of plants checked and amount of damage were recorded to analyse which factors best explain the occurrence of the natural enemy species on maize. Overall parasitism rates from local natural enemies at each location varied between 8.45% and 33.11%. We identified 12 different egg-larval, larval and larval-pupal parasitoid species. Location, maize growth stage, pest density and larval stage significantly affected parasitoid species occurrence. Our findings indicate that there is potential for increasing local populations of natural enemies of FAW through conservation biological control programmes and develop safe and practical control methods for smallholder farmers.


2015 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
pp. 579-584 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Muramatsu ◽  
H. Ito ◽  
A. Sasaki ◽  
A. Kajihara ◽  
T. Watanabe

To achieve enhanced nitrogen removal, we modified a cultivation system with circulated irrigation of treated municipal wastewater by using rice for animal feed instead of human consumption. The performance of this modified system was evaluated through a bench-scale experiment by comparing the direction of circulated irrigation (i.e. passing through paddy soil upward and downward). The modified system achieved more than three times higher nitrogen removal (3.2 g) than the system in which rice for human consumption was cultivated. The removal efficiency was higher than 99.5%, regardless of the direction of circulated irrigation. Nitrogen in the treated municipal wastewater was adsorbed by the rice plant in this cultivation system as effectively as chemical fertilizer used in normal paddy fields. Circulated irrigation increased the nitrogen released to the atmosphere, probably due to enhanced denitrification. Neither the circulation of irrigation water nor its direction affected the growth of the rice plant and the yield and quality of harvested rice. The yield of rice harvested in this system did not reach the target value in normal paddy fields. To increase this yield, a larger amount of treated wastewater should be applied to the system, considering the significant amount of nitrogen released to the atmosphere.


Africa ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 465-489 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane I. Guyer

AbstractA comparison of data collected in western Nigeria (the Yoruba area) in 1968-69 and 1988 suggests that small-scale male farmers' patterns of work remained quite similar in the total amount of work they did and in the amount by task. This finding seemed surprising, since the study area lies in the food supply hinterland of the rapidly growing cities of Ibadan, Lagos and Abeokuta. The farming system has changed in several ways in response to increased urban demand and improved transport, including an increase in farm size on the part of male farmers. Changed cropping patterns, the increased use of hired labour and somewhat increased returns to labour seem only partly to account for the persistence. Analysis of the work data in terms of its timing, rather than in terms of time, suggests that farmers are tending to work at the same task in longer stretches ofconsecutive days, and this, in turn, is related to the marked rescheduling of traditional ceremonial life and the intensified politico-associational life moved to the weekend.


2005 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. P. BUTLER ◽  
T. BERNET ◽  
K. MANRIQUE

Potatoes are an important cash crop for small-scale producers worldwide. The move away from subsistence to commercialized farming, combined with the rapid growth in demand for processed agricultural products in developing countries, implies that small-scale farmers and researchers alike must begin to respond to these market changes and consider post-harvest treatment as a critical aspect of the potato farming system. This paper presents and assesses a low cost potato-grading machine that was designed explicitly to enable small-scale potato growers to sort tubers by size for supply to commercial processors. The results of ten experiments reveal that the machine achieves an accuracy of sort similar to commercially available graders. The machine, which uses parallel conical rollers, has the capacity to grade different tuber shapes and to adjust sorting classes, making it suitable for locations with high potato diversity. Its relatively low cost suggests that an improved and adapted version of this machine might enhance market integration of small-scale potato producers not only in Peru, but in other developing countries as well.


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