IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v11y2019i15p4076-d252466.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Farmers’ Knowledge, Perceptions and Practices in Managing Weeds and Insect Pests of Common Bean in Northern Tanzania

Author

Listed:
  • Hudson C. Laizer

    (Department of Sustainable Agriculture and Biodiversity Conservation, Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 447, Arusha, Tanzania
    Centre for Research, Agricultural Advancement, Teaching Excellence and Sustainability in Food and Nutritional Security (CREATES), Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 447, Arusha, Tanzania)

  • Musa N. Chacha

    (Department of Sustainable Agriculture and Biodiversity Conservation, Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 447, Arusha, Tanzania
    Centre for Research, Agricultural Advancement, Teaching Excellence and Sustainability in Food and Nutritional Security (CREATES), Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 447, Arusha, Tanzania)

  • Patrick A. Ndakidemi

    (Department of Sustainable Agriculture and Biodiversity Conservation, Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 447, Arusha, Tanzania
    Centre for Research, Agricultural Advancement, Teaching Excellence and Sustainability in Food and Nutritional Security (CREATES), Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 447, Arusha, Tanzania)

Abstract

Weeds and insect pests are among the serious constraints in common bean production in most rural communities. A survey of 169 smallholder farmers was conducted in two common bean-growing districts in northern Tanzania. The aim was to assess farmers’ knowledge, perceptions, current management practices and challenges in order to develop sustainable weed and insect pest management strategies. The results revealed that 83% of farmers perceived insect pests as the major constraint in common bean production, while 73% reported weeds as the main drawback. Insect pest management was mainly achieved through the use of synthetic pesticides, however, only 24% of farmers were able to apply, the rest could not afford due to high cost, limited access and lack of knowledge. Only 6.5% of farmers were aware of non-chemical methods and 2.1% did not practice any method in managing insect pests, both in the field and during storage. Moreover, farmers generally relied on experience in managing insect pests and weeds, and about 43% did not see the need to consult extension officers. These findings indicate that there is a need to sensitize and train farmers on the sustainable methods for pest and weed management in common bean farming systems in northern Tanzania.

Suggested Citation

  • Hudson C. Laizer & Musa N. Chacha & Patrick A. Ndakidemi, 2019. "Farmers’ Knowledge, Perceptions and Practices in Managing Weeds and Insect Pests of Common Bean in Northern Tanzania," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-11, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:15:p:4076-:d:252466
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/15/4076/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/15/4076/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Thomas Sawe & Anders Nielsen & Katrine Eldegard, 2020. "Crop Pollination in Small-Scale Agriculture in Tanzania: Household Dependence, Awareness and Conservation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-13, March.
    2. Kinyua, M.W. & Kihara, J. & Bekunda, M. & Bolo, P. & Mairura, F.S. & Fischer, G. & Mucheru-Muna, M.W., 2023. "Agronomic and economic performance of legume-legume and cereal-legume intercropping systems in Northern Tanzania," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    3. Colette de Villiers & Cilence Munghemezulu & Zinhle Mashaba-Munghemezulu & George J. Chirima & Solomon G. Tesfamichael, 2023. "Weed Detection in Rainfed Maize Crops Using UAV and PlanetScope Imagery," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-22, September.
    4. Yujie Pan & Ke Peng & Hongxia Peng & Jing Zhang & Min Zeng & Changsheng Huang, 2019. "Evaluation Model and Empirical Study on the Competitiveness of the County Silicon Crystal Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-15, September.
    5. Julius Mugonza & James P. Egonyu & Michael H. Otim, 2023. "Farmers’ Knowledge, Control Methods, and Challenges of Managing Bean Leaf Beetles ( Ootheca spp.) in Uganda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-14, March.
    6. Md Masudur Rahman & Chandra Kanta Dash & Md Musfikur Rahman & Md Mehedi Hasan & Afsana Hannan & Saumik Dev & Md Fuad Mondal, 2022. "Farmers’ Perceptions and Knowledge of Country Bean ( Lablab purpureus L.) Insect Pests, and Diseases, and Their Management Practices, in Bangladesh," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-18, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:15:p:4076-:d:252466. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.