Browsing by Author "Chidege, Maneno"

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Enhancing Food Grains Storage Systems through Insect Pest Detection and Control Measures for Maize and Beans: Ensuring Food Security Post-COVID-19 Tanzania
(MDPI, 2024-02-21) Chidege, Maneno; Venkataramana, Pavithravani; Ndakidemi, Patrick
COVID-19 poses a significant threat to the present and future of mankind. The emergence of diverse strains during the pandemic creates uncertainty regarding their disappearance or resurgence. Lockdown measures and travel restrictions impact national and household food systems, hindering the movement of people and goods. Effective COVID-19 control requires science-based preventive measures and consideration of food availability. In Tanzania, resource-constrained farmers rely on the self-storage of food crops. Precise pest control information and tailored detection/storage systems are essential for preserving major staple foods such as maize and beans, which face frequent infestation by beetles and moths. Traditional methods used before the pandemic are insufficient compared to advanced global alternatives. This paper reviewed about 175 publications from different databases, dated from 1984 to 2023 (2023 to 2014 = 134, 2013 to 2004 = 26 and 2003 to 1984 = 15), assessing storage management for maize and beans. Identifying gaps between Tanzania and global advancements aiming to empower farming communities with the latest technologies and ensuring food security amid the pandemic.
Field Margin Vegetation in Tropical African Bean Systems Harbours Diverse Natural Enemies for Biological Pest Control in Adjacent Crops
(MDPI, 2019-11-14) Mkenda, Prisila; Ndakidemi, Patrick; Stevenson, Philip; Arnold, Sarah; Belmain, Steven; Chidege, Maneno; Gurr, Geo
Non-crop vegetation around farmland can be valuable habitats for enhancing ecosystem services but little is known of the importance of field margins in supporting natural enemies of insect pests in tropical agriculture. This study was conducted in smallholder bean fields in three elevation zones to assess the importance of field margin vegetation to natural enemy populations and movement to the bean crop for biological pest control. The pests and natural enemies were assessed using di erent coloured water pan traps (to ensure the capture of insects with di erent colour preferences) and the interactions of the two arthropod groups with the margin vegetation and their movement to the bean crop were monitored using fluorescent dye. Sentinel plants were used to assess predation and parasitism levels. A total of 5003 natural enemies were captured, more in the field margin than within the bean field for low and mid elevation zones, while in the high elevation zone, they were more abundant within the bean field. Pests were more abundant in the crop than margins for all the elevation zones. The use of a dye applied to margin vegetation demonstrated that common natural enemy taxa moved to the crop during the days after dye application. The proportion of dye-marked natural enemies (showing their origin to be margin vegetation) sampled from the crop suggest high levels of spatial flux in the arthropod assemblage. Aphid mortality rates (measured by prey removal and parasitism levels on sentinel plants) did not di er between the field edges and field centre in any of the three elevation zones, suggesting that for this pest taxon, the centre of the fields still receive comparable pest control service as in the field edges. This study found that field margins around smallholder bean fields are useful habitats to large numbers of natural enemy taxa that move to adjacent crops providing biological pest control service.
Tomato Leafminer (Tuta absoluta Meyrick 1917): A Threat to Tomato Production in Africa
(Journal of Agriculture and Ecology Research International, 2016-11-28) Zekeya, Never; Chacha, Musa; Ndakidemi, Patrick A.; Materu, Chris; Chidege, Maneno; Mbega, Ernest
Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is an important vegetable crop for income, food and nutrition in Africa. Production of the crop is currently threatened by leaf miner [Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae)]. Heavy infestation by T. absoluta has been reported to cause yield losses ranging from 80-100%. Tuta absoluta has high rate of reproduction and short life cycle making it very dominant in the infested tomato fields. Insecticide application for control of the pest is uneconomical for subsistence farming and beyond the earnings of majority of resource-poor farmers in Africa. Use of host resistance and or integrated pest management (IPM) strategies is slightly or not in use thus making the pest reign in the majority of African countries. This review discusses how T. absoluta threatens production and recommends some focal areas towards addressing this pest problem in the tomato industry in Africa.