AgriGuide

Recognizing the most important pests

Farmers wanting to apply non-chemical crop protection must be able to recognize which pests are the most harmful for the crops: the key pests. Once understood under which conditions pests will cause most damage, farmers can take proactive action to prevent that damage. Measures should not be too expensive or require more labor than farmers can spare.

Planning, implementing and experimenting

Proactive pest management is not a recipe that works in the same way in any agro-ecological zone. It is a flexible approach which farmers need to adapt from time to time to the circumstances of their farms. Some measures are effective for several farming seasons and help control various types of pests. For example, farmers might want to make a planting schedule which will indicate the type and order of crops to be cultivated per field (crop rotation).

In practice, farmers will continuously make small improvements. It is recommended that farmers experiment on a limited scale, by planting a different variety or a different combination of crops on a small section of a field. By comparing the damage caused by a certain pest to an individual variety, or combinations of varieties, farmers can determine under what conditions the pest causes the least damage.

Inspection

During the growing season, farmers have to inspect their crops weekly to observe the main pests and get an idea of how quickly the latter develop.

It is recommended to make drawings of the crops and the pests found several times per year. Then later, it can be seen which pests are to be expected and at which development stage of a crop.

For insect pests, it is also important to know how their natural enemies develop. If the pest develops much faster than its enemies, you may still be able to take corrective action. At the end of the season, one can evaluate the yield and quality of the crop.

Making a farm field less attractive to pests

Mono-cropping makes it easier to perform various tasks in the field, but it is also a major cause of the explosive growth of pest organisms. One large field of maize, for example, is a nearly inexhaustible source of food for pests. Often the same crop is cultivated year after year on the same land, enabling soil-borne pathogens and certain weed species to multiply unchecked.

Small farms are usually more diverse, with various crops planted side by side in the same field. Farmers have often developed their own methods to keep harmful pests, especially animals, away from their crops. These type of farms are also a lot less attractive to pests. Growing a variety of crops already leads farmers to a pro-active pest management framework.