Source: Apantaku, O.S. 1999. Indigenous technical knowledge and use of forest plant products for sustainable control of crop pests in Ogun State, Nigeria. J. Sust. Agric.14(2/3):5-13.

Crop loss due to insects is a limiting factor in farm production around the world; no country is free from pest problems. The United States and other industrialized countries fight insect pests with chemical insecticides. Many undeveloped countries cannot afford the high prices of insecticides, so they continue to use local alternatives. Farmers in undeveloped countries can offer valuable information on the use of indigenous plants for pest control without the use of chemicals. This paper reviews research done involving 150 farmers who used indigenous plant products to control crop pests in Ogun Sate, Nigeria. The researcher and his field assistants employed personal interviews while observing the methods for pest control used by the native farmers to determine the effectiveness of the twenty-three plants used by the farmers in this area. The results were classified into three groups for effectiveness: "Very efficacious" for plants that were 70-100% effective, "efficacious" for those that were 60- 69% effective, and "fairly efficacious" for those that were 50-59% effective. Of the twenty-three plants studied, the average level of efficacy was 60%. One of the most beneficial plants used was the neem tree (Azadirachta indica); when applied it is "efficacious". The tobacco plant (Nicotiana tabacum) was "very efficacious" as an insect repellent. When burned, the fruit from a lime tree (Citrus medica) produced a smoke poisonous to beetles, grasshoppers, aphids and moths and is therefore "efficacious". Garlic (Allium sativum) repelled insects when it was intercropped with other crops. It was also very effective as an insecticide when its cloves were crushed and soaked in water for a day and then sprayed onto crops. Further research based on the findings of this study will hopefully inspire continued interest into the use of indigenous plants as insecticides in Nigeria and other agricultural ecosystems around the world.

Abstract author: Karen R.M. Joslin, 26 October 1999.

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