Grasshopper control in the Sahel: Farmer perceptions and participation

Storehouse, J.M., Gbongboui, C., De Groot, A., Lomer, C., Ly, S., Tijani & Maiga, I. (1997). Grasshopper control in the Sahel: farmer perceptions and participation. Crop Protection, 16(8), 733-741.

This study used farmers' responses to a questionnaire to investigate the practices they used against grasshoppers, locusts and other pests, the reasons for their choices, and the differences between the perception and control of grasshoppers vis-à-vis other pests. 313 farmers were interviewed in the Sahelian zones of Benin, Mali and Niger. The perceived relative and absolute gravity of pests, and the techniques used against them, varied between areas. Insect control techniques requiring cash spending were generally disfavoured for this reason. Compared with that of other insects the traditional, non-chemical controls of grasshoppers, though effective, were seen as demanding of time and money, and may have interfered with other farm tasks such as weeding. For these reasons grasshopper control was not performed very much by farmers, but left to the publicly-organised village control brigades