On farm strategies for the control of the maize weevil in Kenya.

Abstract

Maize is an important staple food for most people in the Sub-Saharan Africa. In most rural areas of Kenya, the production of this crop is under subsistence farming and on-farm storage forms part of the traditional practices. During harvest and storage maize is liable to attack by a variety of insect pests. The maize weevil (Sitophilus zeamais Motsch.) and the larger grain borer (Prostephanus truncatus Horn) cause considerable economic losses to smallholder farmers thus jeopardizing food security at the farm level. Satisfactory pest control has been achieved by use of synthetic pesticides but their adverse effects on the environment, development of resistant strains, their high cost and residues in food has motivated research for safer and cheap alternative methods. On- farm pest control strategies by farmers can be improved by informed research where each method is evaluated thoroughly with the aim of identifying its strength to avoid storage grain losses which may compromise food security at the farm level.