"SEC | S20W3:"Identification and Elimination of Crop Pests"

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It's another week to learn about agriculture and I am excited to be available for the week three. Thank you teachers for enlightening us about crop pest and how to eliminate them. I present my homework below...

Bertha armyworm
Cabbage seedpod weevil
Cutworm
Diamondback moth
Wireworm
Wheat midge
Pea leaf weevil
Grasshopper

These are some of the crop pests I observed when I visited the crop field. Pests are one of the major problems farmers face in farming. They can damage crops and leave nothing to enjoy arls profits.

Identifying these crop pests are very important and necessary to help save the crops. I identified these pests by;

• Their droppings;; Droppings are glaring signs that a pest or pests may be living or roaming in your crop field. Although it could be difficult to identify the droppings of certain pests than others, but seeing these droppings means that pesta are within the crop field.

• Footprints; These are obvious sign to look out for when in the crop field. It's an indication that the crop field area has been infiltrated by pests, such as mice and rats. Using a track may be useful to help identify where the source of the pests may be coming from.

• Foul odour; One should perceive these pests and notice their presence. Pests like rodents are often accompanied by an ammonia scent, which is likened to urine, and cockroaches are best known for emitting oily smell.

• Nest; Locating evidence of a nest created by crop pests is another form of identification depending on the type of pest that has created the nest, the evidence will show.

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Usually, when I of pest control, I typically think about the eradication of rats, insects etc. How ever, pest control is mostly involved with the safety of our foods, crops and health. About 20% of our food supply is consumed by rodents, and rodents carry transmittable diseases that can endanger humans and animals.

Pest control is an important process in the agricultural business, as pests can lead to important economic and ecological losses.

For grasshoppers, sprays like; malathion, carbaryl, permethrin, bifenthrin are best to control them.

Wireworms can be controlled with Furadan, Lorsban, Mocap, Capture, Platinum, Brigadier.

Chemicals like deltamethrin, lambda-cyhalothrin, cyfluthrin, bifenthrin, permethrin will work very well to eliminate cutworms.

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Well, I wasn't able to create any trap because I don't have the materials available, but I will describe it in a simple way.

Sticky traps is a type of trap that involves a board, a piece of tape, a cardboard, a piece of wire net, and a sphere, a cylinder. The trap is coated with a sticky substance that would trap any pest once they step on it.

Light traps is made with a bucket, a funnel and a light. You place the funnel in the bucket and the light source suspended above. The light could be generated using some wires and a battery to make it easier. Insects that are attracted to the light, fall through the funnel and get trapped.

These are the two traps I have come across and are easy to create.

The use of biochemicals is beneficial and cost-effective but not to all crops. There are crops that could damage due to chemicals hence, causing loss to the farmer.

When we take a look at cereals like corn and wheat, they use diatomaceous which is natural biochemicals. This helps to avoid pests around the crops, therefore, being cost effective to the owner. Biochemicals can also be used on vegetables like okra, tomatoes, chilli peppers, cucumbers, green amaranth, carrots and onions to control pests.

We can also use biochemicals on fruits. Bacillus thuringiensis is an ideal chemical for pest control. The compost improves the soil fertility I guess that is why it is used.

I have been able to share my little knowledge on this topic. I am not a farmer but I hope my little knowledge is beneficial. Let me invite @john247 @chant @mariami