Assessment of indigenous and chemical pest control measures for arable crops in Ejigbo local government area, Osun state, Nigeria

Abstract EN

The importance of pest control measures in the management of post-harvest losses and ensuring food security cannot be overemphasized.

this paper identified the indigenous and chemical pest control measures known and used by farmers, determined farmers' frequency of usage, perceived effectiveness of measures used, and assessed the constraints encountered by farmers.

a multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 150 respondents in five communities and a structured interview schedule was used to obtain data.

results revealed that eight indigenous and nine chemical pest control measures were identified out of 37 listed measures.

the frequency of usage was low, with grand mean scores of 0.36 for the indigenous and 0.27 for chemical measures.

in contrast, the chemical pest control measures were more effective than the indigenous measures with scores of 1.47 and 1.26, respectively.

also, inadequate extension and training services were the only major constraint experienced by the farmers in both measures.

the results of correlation analysis showed that farmers’ age (r = -0.310) had a significant negative relationship with the frequency of usage of chemical pest control while years of formal education (r = -0.082), annual income (r = -0.400) and farm size (r = -0.262) had a significant negative correlation with usage frequency of indigenous frequency of usage of indigenous pest control.

in conclusion, with most farmers not using many of the indigenous and chemical pest control measures in addition to inadequate extension service delivery, the quality and quantity of arable crops produced will be adversely affected.

consequently, food security and the rural household economy would be at risk without quick intervention.