Introduction

A pest can be classified as any organism capable of causing damage to crop plant. Pest are animals, insects, germs or other organisms that interfere with plant growth. They may bite, destroy food crops or damage farmland produce.

Types of Crop Pest

There are six classes

– Insects

– birds

– rodents

– monkeys

– nematodes

– man

Classification of Insect Pests

Insect pests are classified into various groups based on their mode of feeding. These group of insect pests are biting and chewing, piercing and sucking, boring insects.

Biting and Chewing Insects – They posses certain qualities like strong mandibles and maxillae which enable them to bite and chew plant parts. Examples are termites, grasshoppers, leaf worms, army worms, mantids, locusts and beetles.

Piercing and Chewing Insects – These insects posses strong mouth parts called proboscis which enable them t pierce through plants and such liquid materials from plant tissues. Examples are aphids, cotton stainers, mealy bugs, scale insects, capsids or mirids and white flies.

Burrowing Insects – These insects including their larvae are capable of burrowing into plant parts and destroying the tissues of the plants or fruits or seeds. Examples are bean beetles, stem burrowers, maize weevils and rice weevils.

Based on Location, insects can also be divided into two depending on whether they attack crops on the the field or the products in the store. Insects that attack crops on the field are called Field Pests  e.g. grass hoppes, caterpillar, locusts while those that attack the products in the store are referred to as storage pests. e.g weevils, beetles, moth.

Non insect pests – These are bigger animals which can either be mammals or birds. They include rodents, squirrels, rats, monkeys, bats, goats and birds. These pests attack mostly cereal crops, maize, millet, sorghum, wheat and other crops during storage…

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