Farmers’ perspectives of rodent damage and management from the highlands of Tigray, Northern Ethiopian
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Date
2010-12-10
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Elsevier
Abstract
A farmers’ knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) survey was conducted in the highlands of Tigray,
northern Ethiopia, to better understand rodent damage and rodent management from the farmers’
perspective. Farmers (n 1⁄4 191) from Dogu’a Temben district, were interviewed using a semi-structured
questionnaire. The large majority of the farmers stated that rodents are the main pests in crop fields
(92.1%) and storage (88.5%). The farmers (64.2%) reported they experienced 100–500 kg ha 1 damage in
crop fields, which is equivalent to 8.9–44.7% loss in annual production. There was some overlap between
the most common crops grown in the highlands and the most common crops susceptible to rodent
attack. Farmers identified barley as the crop most susceptible to rodent attack (76.4%) and the booting
stage as the crop developmental stage with the highest rodent abundance and damage. Rodenticide
application was the most commonly practiced management strategy in crop fields (51.8%); in storage,
farmers mainly keep domestic cats around granaries (80.6%). We recommend a reduction in reliance on
chemical rodenticide in crop fields and a shift to a more sustainable rodent management approach to
reduce rodent numbers and damage.
Description
Crop Protection
Keywords
Farmers perspectives, Rodent damage management, Highlands, Tigray, Northern Ethiopian
Citation
doi:10.1016/j.cropro.2009.12.006