Management Options for Sorghum Stem Borers for

Farmers in the Semi-Arid Trooics

K.F. N w m z e l and R.A.E. Mueller2

Currcnlly rccommcndcd control mcasurcs againsl corphum stcm b o n n arc hrrcfly rcvicwcd
Gcncrally, sumsslul mclhods apphcd In dcvclapfd countrlcs have k e n re~rcdat rcvcarch
slalronr ~ndcvcioprngcountr~csandrrcommcndcdrofarmcrs l o r h c a m ~ a n d r r o p ~Thecxtcnr
c~
o r fhcir use bv farmers rr lssesscd and [arm-and scctor-kvcl constra,nts lo ada~talionarc
cvaluared Past rcscnrch Iceding lo control rccommmde1,ons did nor adcquarc(v lakc local
larm,ngpracrias lnto account An approach loiIhrmcr-or~cnlcdrcscarch onconrrol mclhoda 1,

16s~nnvrsdk r i p s d u &tm :Lt; lc~hn,quesdc lulre ~commandtcsactu;llemcnt pour lurrer

conrn Ies l o n u n dcs l!ges du sorpho son1 rappclecs En gtntral I s mtrhodes a ~ p i ~ q u avcc
ks
rvcccs dens Ics pays dtvcloppcs~ont t r t tesrtcs dsns lei sre1,ons d t rcchcrchc-dcs pays cn
dtrrloppcmenr ctpropostcr cnsurre aur payany dilnr Irr zones rrap!caio acm,-arrder LCdegd
dclcuradoplionperlespa.~san~esr t~aluta~nsrque bconrrarnrespourieur usagcaunivcaudes
champs paysans Les rn'hcrchcr mcnks anrtrrcurcmcnr en maritrc dc lurrc n bot pas sulfisam-
mcnr pns en comptc b piar,ques cultuiaics loceles Line approche csr proposk pour une
mherchc orienrk au milieu paysan sur Ics rcchnlqucs dc lutic

Speclflc rclcarch has not been conducted on the

Introduction
Literature abounds w t h ~nfnrmationon thr conlrol
01 sorghum pests, and much of 11dcals with 5tsm
borers Recommmdauons for stem horcr manage
men1 range from the r~mpleculluralpracttcr ofsou-
,date, lochem~caland h~olog~calcontrol,modcrn
~ ~ ~ l s tgenotypes,
ant and more ambitious lntegraled
pest manaeemcnt However, bery fcwfarners ofthc
semi-nnd~rop~u(SAT)pracl~uthoencommenda-
tlons, wh~chgather dust In l~braner
adopl~onby farmers uf stem borer management
iccommcndat~onr Prcrequts~tcsto thc success of
any pcst.control technolog). and thus the success of
any stem borer management research program have
hecn ~denufiedb) Relchelderler and Botlrell(1985,
p 2R4) "Basically any pest.control technology mu51
mccl four crltcrla before Ilcan kconstdercda Ihkcly
cand~datclorscccptanccmd overallefiect~vencsr 11
mua k p o l ~ t ~ c a ipracl~cal,socially
ly acccp~able,and
economicaily kaslhle, as well ar technically effec-
IVC "

I Pnnc~palClnatn Entornolosu! Soilhum Group Corral$ Progem In*rnl#onaiCrop. Rn.arrh In#tifutr lor Ihr Scm8.And Troplcl
(IcnIsAn v.t.*t,~m ~ndh.. P I U " ~mz 114 1ndl8
2 PIIKIPII E C O ~ O ~ Ub In o m ~ Group,
a Rwura MnnwminlProlram I' ~ h lrm
c laallon

I C ~ ! s ~ T ( I n ~ m l l i o nCrop
.i R ~ a r c hIwlktutc for ~ hSlm#.Al#d
( Ttopinl 1989 Inurnlt~o~l
*orbhop on Sorghum S m Bonm
17.M Nor 117 ICRISAT Onur lndu P w k r u . A P 124 lndu ICRISAT
 Trld~l~onalme~rchconnntrstesonthctrhn~cal
dicctlvencsofpcsr manqcmenl mommcndal~ons.
usually n c g l ~ t t n g otponng
r othcr cntcilantal for
succcss This rmphasls ontcchn~calfcas~btllly often karlcs cons~dcrablvacrovs rcalons of lhc SAT
z5ultr In p e l conlro, mommmoallonl tnal can. st
XII. be adopea onl) b) proprcrr.\r farmen Pro.
gresslve mearchcrr should. ldcall), takc all four
cntenatnto account so that thc~rrccommcndat~an~ I o n 01 stand Avotdable gram losses on Ihr hybr~d
can bc adoptcd b) tradillonal farmers ~n the SAT
In lhls papcr we cxplorc rome Impl~cauonsof
adopt~ng
. - a farm~ng - svslcms
. . .
pcnpecllvc In stem
bonrmanqcmen~rncarchInanaltcmpltolncrcasc
thc ul~layof [he research output for farmers Thc
essence of lhls approach IS thal by spendtng morc
cffort on anuclpatlng the conscqucnrrs 01 manage-
men1 pracuces that are imponan! for farmcrs uc
rcducc thc chance of recommcnd~ngpcs! manage-
ment pracllccs that arc not adopted by farmcis
Importance of Sorghum and
Sorghum Stem Borers
F A 0 (1986) reports sorghum producuon from 89
counlncs. 31 of uhlch are dcvelopmg countrlei In
lhc SAT Thcsc counlrlcs contrtbule abovt SOV of
the annual world sorghum gram productmn of RO
mill~ontonncs. and account for 75% of ~ h 50 c mil-
lhon hectare plantcd wllh sorghum, worldw~dc
In contrast lo the sorghum-grow~ngrountrlcr In
Lrtln Amerlca uhcrr sorghum gram Ir used ac
sntmal Iced, near\) 9 0 1 ot sorghum produred In
dcvcloping counlrlcs olthc SAT ol As14 and A h a
IS uscd for food ( F A 0 1984) Sorghum gram IS r
staple dta of many sub~tstencefarmcrs and rural
lhbarcri In thc SAT. and IS an ~mponantsource of
calortcr and prolcln For cxamplc, poor rural fami-
lhes In l n d ~ aon avcragc derive 15% of thclr datl)
caloricsand 169oflhc1rda1l$Drotclnfromsorahum
(Muny and von Oppen 19d5j Dctalled SUN& in
lndta (Ryan at al 19841 showed lhai ~ornhumcon-
trtbutcs aboul2 3 ofdaily protcm and caiorlcs con.
Sumptlon
. byruralpeo~le~nsorghumgrou~nglraclr
. - . .
Sorgn.mgratn.,alr~uldt! buJ .n:nep:aaL:l ?-
of no $ e n o r * k t r nA1rl:d H ~ u b l r u e1%- Tnr
u r e ~ o ~ s o r ~ h u m notconf~ned
are togra~nSorghum
stalks. for examplc. became ~ncreu~ngly valuablc ~n
parts 01 India In pcr~odsof drought from 1980 to
1986 Dur~ngthal tlme the prlce of sorghum foddcr
rose bv about 27W0 Foddcr'r sharc in ~ h valuc c of
,jrgnLrn producllon na, .nrre%ed ~n tne samr
prrlod from w l o u W, lo more than 'OC ,Ual'cr
1987) Sorghumstalksmalso used forfcnc~ng,and
provldt beddlng for hvestock
Thcstvertly ofd&maptosorghum by stem borcn
Harrlr ,985 oltndlrc ncra.. l o a n l u be on lhc
oraer ol 5 - lWf In bar, .orpn.m-grou.na snu '
Wesl Afr~ca,cspecdlg wh& cari) altaik causc?
rorghum CSH I and the rancly Swarna were eslt-
matcd lo be about 55-SIB In India (Jotwan! el al
1971. jot wan^ I9721 In a survcv ofccrcal losscs ~n
Kenya and Tanzania. Walker (1967) rcportcd losscs
In ytald of sorghum duc la slcm borcr damagcranp-
ing from 18.27% A reccnl suwcy of farmcn'pc~.
ccpllon oflosscsduelostem borer in wcstcrn Kenya
rcported a range of 1540% (Scshu Reddy I n press1
Most losses In yield arc aur~bulcdto curly attack on
thc growlng plant Corrclallnns of counts of Tlem
damngc wtlh y ~ l a1 d or bcfarc harvest, have onen
fa~ledlo dcmonstratc an) rcduclton In gram y~eld
lHarrtr 1962. ICRISAT 1987) I
Review of Recommendations for
Stem Borer Management
Pest management slrattgle, that have becn sug.
pc\lcd forsorahumslcm horcrs ~nthcSAT(culturdl
chrmeal, and b~ologlcalcontrol, horl-plan1 real<-
lance, and tnlegratrd pest managcmcnr) art hrlrfl)
reilewcd In lhls sccuon Thc morc cxol$c conlrol
methods ,uch as the use of phcromoncs, juvcntlc
hormones, and ihcmoslcr~lantiarc cxcluded
Cropping Praclices
Cropping pracltces can he concrtvcd as hsvtng
cvolvcd over lone pcr~odsof Itme and bc~nnwell-
a d a p l c d t o l o c a l ~ ~ i r a n m e n~~hsa n g c s r n c r t i ~ ~ l n "
pracllccs can have impondnr tmpacls on stem bol
ccology that may bc ;xplollcd In pest management
Such changer may, howcvcr, have Inlricatc agro.
no?.; an0 c : z ~ o ~ ~ c r d c c l l c Inr: : t ~ areolfr C L I i:
ant :.pair and that alm.nl,h !kc arcp1an:c 1'
recommendedcropplng pracllccs by iarmers
Rotalions
R3ldl.onr:anchec~sleaoonrpop~ta:~on b...c-.p
b) remo\.ng prtban nostro!~he per: lorextrcded
pnodn Rouuons tnclud~nglrllow,h o w n r . have alone w ~ l lresult In h~ghersustatnable sorghum
vanuhed m para of the SATwtherplostve popula- pclds
tton gronih. tnerustng land pressure. and decltning
land produntvtty (Malon and S p n a r 19841 Fur- Farm &nitadon
thermore, the u r t v d or absena of rams, sudden
c h u m In p n a rattos, and other ,nnablcs outstdc Severalsam borerspec~eswtllcarryovcr~nsorghum
thc control 01 farmen often tmpcdc the planned stcms ( C partcllus. B lusca. A rgnefusalrs) or sur.
sucvsston 01 crops For exampic, analyst; 01 the v~vethe dry season on alternate wtld grass hosts
crop cholas of a small sample 01 larmcn in Indla LSesun~asppl Collccttng and burnlng stubble and
showedthat about hallofallattcm~tcdrotattonsare stalks, or olowlnn and dcarovtna croD realdue a r
rccommcnoec p r a c l m baude en 1956 \ s t I9M
and Hsrr s lB21Aorrlr.nano 4 a\ 1980 f n ~ l o
in northern Nigerta that partial burnlng 01 stalks
Intercropping klllcd 95% old~apauslngB luscalswne, and cured
the stalks. tmprov~ngthctr qualtty lor hous~npand
Most farmers ~n the SAT grow sorghum in crop lcnctng matrrlal SPCCICSthat suwlvr on dry season
mlxtures, usually with legumes and somettmes wtth wlld gramlnaccous hosts are ellccttvcly controlled
othcr cereals In gencml. crop mlxtures rcducc pehi by crop removal In thc densely populated SAT
tnc~dcnawhcnthcchotccolthecro~s tnthemlxture arcar of Indls. field santtatbon can hardly be Im.
1s oropcrly done Howcvcr, the ~ndntdualcompo- proved Here all plant restdur IS ellher grazed or
:row. may. not eguallk benefit For cxamvle. \n collected by the abundant larm labor In Afnca.
a . Ogwaro (1983) found increased borer Icvcls where farm labor a scarce and draft antmals arc not
In maize when mtcrcroppcd wllh sorghum, whtlr 1)plcally uscd, posthawc.il plov~ngts very coatly
borer lrvcls rcma~ncd tht samc ~n sorghum Sorghum stalks uscd as lcnc~ngmaterial may havr
Amoako-Atta and Omalo (1983) lound that a nochcapsubsututcs !nremotc ruralareasor may hr
sonhum mai7e tntcrcioo was more fa,orablc to too valuable as ladder to bc burned
C ,brtc/lusattack than an tntcrcropofsorghumand
cownea S\mllarrtudtesby Mahsdcvan andChrlltilh
(19861 ~nIndia showed a much hlghcr inctdencc of Manuring
borer attackand lower yteld in monocropsorghum
compared to sorghum ~ntercroppcd w.tth liblab Farm manurr provtder nutnenls, lmproves so11
(Lablab purpvrevr (1) Swot) Although there i s structure, and lncrcases roll water-hold~ngcapactly.
sc~cni~ftc whtch In turn tmproves plant vtgor and growth
ev~drnccof an cflect of the cornpositton n l
sorghum Intercrops onstem borerecology. therearc Vtgornusly grow~ngsorghumsvllenlessborerdam-
no rtudies showing that larmers grow specific sol- age and escapes deadheart lormatlon Although
ghum lntercrops to cxplo~tlhts ellcct IIVLSIOC~ numkrr are lncrcastng at a slou pace in
the SAT ollndta, the ratlo of Itvestock per cropped
area IS iugnatlng, ltmiltng the scope lor increasing
Sowing Date appl~cat~on of manure Furthermore. where fire-
wood IS ~carce,dun8 !a also uscd lor fuel Fnrmlng
a rorgnum tracu ot ~ n cS4T so*.ng III no~<eno.dr.n Inas8 b u n a o o ~ I' ~o!or.cddungper
~~m~roetcrm.ned b\ .a.n.al. P.an! ngaitcr:hc ,rsr (ICRlSAT 19at. lhese factors cauc larmcr*
.a~nsathefintstepthclarmcrtskcstocnsurca toapply manurc leaalrequenlly and In lcsacrquant~-
good crop Thts practbcc has consldcrablc relevance tles than they would 11more manurc was avatlablr
to stem borers slna thc early sown crop usually Local sorghum cult~varrIn lndta rarely rccc~ve
sullen less borer attack than a crop sown later manure Walker and Rao (1982) lound that only
(Hams 1962, Nwanzc 1981) Dcv~atsonsfrom this I4~olthcplot9pIantcd w~thpostra~n)acasonlocal
rvlc are usually founded on othcr constraints that sorghum m two villages of Maharashtra. Indld.
.. .
larmcn havetocons~drr.suchassotltv~eandto~o- received manure In contrast, W o 01 the htah-
graphy ofplota(Malon 1980). labor bottlenecks, or ytcldlng vaneaes (HYVI sorghum plots In another
nsk 01 croo damage from other tnxcts Gtvsn the v~llagcolthcsamcstaterccclvcdtnorgan~clcntltzcr
man) conr~ralntra~lmlngfarmcn'cnol~ol~ou.ng ~ a r t i e kn l l n r tnat sorgnlm Ir mow rflponli~cto
a e n . 11 u unldel) t b n cnange m row:ng dncr cnorgan.c fm..#zer tnan to manure and r e u n e the
avulablc mpnurc lor cash crops Ev~dcn~c from 56
villages In 10 countnn In sub-Saharan Alnca 1nd1-
cats that manunng ficlds a a practlm that cvolvcs
m t h ~ncrcalnglarmlng Intcnslt) from fallow to
annual cropptng systcms (Blnswansr and Plngall
1984)
C h t m l d Control
Scvcral ~nYCt~ctdts ~ P V been
C tcstrd for the control Host-plmt R n i s l m c e
of stem borers Thc~refficacy dcpcndr cruclall) on
Ihc tlmlng of appllcatton In Alnca. chcm~calcon.
trol by carbofursn. carbaryl, and cndosulfan wcrc
found cffcct~ucagalnst B hsca and Scsamra spp
(Tancta and Leuschncr 1985. Scshu Reddv and
0moio 19R5J Sharmall98SJ llslcd nlnc tnscc;e~des
thatareeffcct~vcagainst C cancllus~nlndla Gras-
ular formulat~onr of carboluran appl~cddlrcctli
~ n t othc vhorl gave rcasonabla control apiltnrt
C pancllusalthoughthe pr~~cdurclplabor-~ntcns~\~
and wasrecommcndcd anl) as alas! resort (Tertcr el
al 1983) H g h labor Inteniltb would probably no8
preventfarmcrr ~nlndlatodo rhi~~falcmborcrwc~e nlrms of rcrlslancc and lurthcr studics on ovlporl-
a rcbrn ylcld reduccr These ~nrrct~c~dc, arc. hou. tion bchav~orand crop phys~ologgw11I providc an
cvcr, altcn unavailable ~n rural arcu or too expen.
rlrc for cubvrlcoce iarmcn Thc assessment ~ r i grated pcsr management programs At thls !,me
chrm~calcontrol of sorghum ~n thr SAT b) Daitrs
(IPS2 p 220)ts as baltd loday as it aas6)cars ago
"In general thcrc ts lhtllr convlncmgcvldence of the
cconomlc soundness o i some of the recommandi.
ttons madc for lnscctlctdc use on sorghum. In dcvel.
oplng countrics, cxccpt In speclal hlgh ~nput,or at
least htgh fcn~lny sltuauons"
Chemlcal ~nscctpest control on local cultl\arr 01
sorghum 1s conspicuously absent In l n d ~ aEv!denrc
from three stud) villagcs In diflcnnt agrocl~mrtic
roncs ~n SAT lndla (Btnswsngcr and Ryan I9Xill
-
shows that onlr. hvbr~dsornhum~s
. romcllmes treated Thr
wtth tnscct~c~dcs In the cvenl of shootll! or mtdge
auack Wc havc no rcports irom Our vtliaee In\esti.
gatorsthatiarmer~actuallyapply ~nsccl~c~dcsd~rect-glc control optLon 15 sulf~c~cnt,one may try,
ly into the whorl
Biological Control
A number of natural cnembcs have brcn reported
(Pradhanct al 1971, F A 0 1980. Scrhu Rcdd) and
Davtcs 1979, and Sharma 1985) In general. the eifi-
clcncy of natural cncmtcr ~n panbcular farming
cnvlronmrnts 1s not known The scopc lor succesb-
fully wntroll~ngsorghum stem borcrs w ~ t hnalurdl
cncmlcs is llmltcd by the shon cropplng pcnod and
the lack of conunuous habltats lor the naturll cnc-
mlcs Thc lntroductlon and cstabl~shmcnt of Tn-
chopramms erlpucm, a paraallold on C p m l l u s
c g s . rcprcscnts a notable succns In l n d ~ a(Jotwani
19821 In Afr~ca.thcovcrallratcofpsru~lism~s low
and only Increases when borcr d a m a s a wcll
advanced (Hams I%>, Nranzc I9851
At ICRlSATCcnter. morclhan70gcrmplasmrour-
ces and brecdlng l~ncahavc bccn idcntdicd e rcslr-
tan1 to stcm borcr C perrcllus Thca matertals ale
-
prams Sharma(l98SJalso Ihstcd 34entr1csof wh~ch
..
cuircntlv. b c m used in ICRISAT's brccdlnp ore-
- -
25 wcrc hinhlv. pramlslna,
. -
havtna stablc rerlstanu
and good agronomic charactcr~si~aSc!,cral local
c u l t ~ ~ and
u r ~landraccs exh~blta h~gh
. ltllcr~ne.abjl-
~ t vand 11ilcrtnp.asanaspcct ofvar~elaltolcra
loa boirr ~nfcstat~ons, may result In an I,..,~,,
Inrrcase In head producuon (Harris 1962) Mecha.
adequate foundation for thc dcvelopmcnt of Intc.
huwevet,rtcm borcr rcslrtantcukvars have yctto be
releaaed In thc SAT Furthcrmorc, gcrmplasm har
not becn screcncd (or muil~plcrcstaance Wc can.
not, thcrcforc, dcn) thc posribillty that culljvars
dcieloped from slcm borcr rrslstant gcrmplraln
mlght break down when exposcd to multlplr pcbt
m d dlscasc proaurc In farmerr' ftelds
lntegraled P a t Management ( I P M )
~nditldualcontrol methods diausscd abovc
have lhelr I~mltat,onsand none 1s suffic~cntto adc.
. . control stem borcr outbrcaks When no sm.
auatelt
oxplot! thc ~nteracttonsof d~Mercntcontrol strate-
glcs ~ntegraadtn a pest managcmcnl system I P M
takes tnto account thc tnteractlons between blouc,
ab~ouc,and cconomtc factors of crop productton.
and pest mansgcmcnt asclf bccomcs part of manag.
Ink or ~roduclnea crop The Iimltatlons of tnd~vtd.
uai control mcthods mdlcatc that host.plant rcslb-
tanccandculturalpractlccsshould bema~orcomvo-
. .
ncnt, In thc ~ntcgraadmanagcmcnt of sorghum
stem borers
Whcre tnlcgratcd pest management h u seriously
been tned, ru lransicr l o iarmcn o l a n mct w ~ t h
conaralnts that wee not nnuc~patcdby mtomole-
8lsts or s w t d IF~CnIIsts The maln defic~ncvof
many I P M rccommmdauons is that the) arc loo
complicated to be eaplslned by ertcnslon woiken
and to be adopted by iarmcn Adoptlon of thmsli-
olds acornerstone of l P M e anexampic Carlson
and Mucller (1987) found that adoption of thresh
olds by plgconpea growcn e SAT lndla uas much
slower than adoption of ultra-low volumc spraberr
and t h n iarmcn wlth Ihtle or no formal educatton
arc vcr! unlikely lo hc among thc early adoptan of
thresholds Drawtngon her capcnenosof IPM ftrld
work in thr developing countries Goodrll (19x4
p IBI charrsnzcd IPM as follows
' O f thc varlouscomponmt5 of modern agr~culture
IPM presents b) lilr thr mosl difficult challenge to
rrildlttonal small-rrale farmers in the Thlrd &odd
as they makc the transition to sc~enufsfarming
Assessment of the Recommendations
Rccommendauans lor stem borcr managcmcnt al
though appcarmg promlslng hake not carrled ldr
bc)ond the research itation, and Ihhrarie\ Farm
ianilallon can enher not he lmprovcd or onl) hr
improved at high cost Fow~ngdalesarcconfined h j
rev~ralconstratntsand rre Ihkelb to be well-timed In
trad~tlonnlfarnilng systems that havc cvol\cd o i e r
lone permds Rolrl~on,are ntlcn obstructed bv the
\ag~r~ecofthe wcathcr~nthe FAT Manur~nglocal
iulti\8rr of sorghum 1s unattractlie to farmers
Sorghum cultcrars thdt are accepldble la farmers
and re,islant or tolcrant lo atem borcr and olher
y~cldrcduceri are ya to be rclcaicd Thcie IS no
conilstency In stem barer control through Inter.
cropplng and b~olag~cal control 15 ~ncfficlent lnta
cratcd stem borcr manacement finall). 15 llkelv. to
:\rrcl) constrarcd by the lim~tedmanagcmcnt
ib~lityof farmers What has prc\entcd stem
,,,;r research from contnbuung more to sorghum
~mprorcmcnt~ I t was certa~nlynot a lack of com
mltmcnt on ~ h pan c of rasrarchrrs nor vcrc they
lacking In comptencc or dcvoid of a scnse 01
urgency to solvc the rtcm borcr problem Mare
likely 11warn thecontrary h~ghlymotlvatcd compe
tent researchers aucmpled to ach~evctransferable
~ s u l t aulcklv.
r allen wllh irurai llnancial svooorl
by applitng risearch approach;^ irom menlo; insti
tutionr tn developed countncs to thc SAT
Applylng methods and prlnc~plcs01 entomology
tn?ub~ectmattcr rosearch onrtem borcn~nthrSAT
Is nrccrsary Tranrkrring approaches lo problcm
sol\~nnstcm borcr rcscarch from dwelooed to
develop~ngcountncs ~spcr~loub 11cncouiagci rur-
r o n problem~dcnuficat~annnd acccptanccofrecoo-
mrndaltoni wlthoul crll~cdlappracral
Prohlemsolving qtem borrr research has to con.
sbdcr that practical problems arc Incat~on-spcclflc
AF mentloned earb~rcstlmdtes 01 y~cldIo\se~irom
atem borcr attack kary cans~derabl) acroJs regmnr
and range from 5 81% Crcond ylcld los~cifrom
rtrm-borer as pcrceivrd b) ,ixnllstl ma) bc~mper.
fea indlcatori of Farmers perccptlons of thc lmpol
lance of arm-horcr managrmcnt Th~rd~olut\ons
ofprrcucal problems havr to take InloaLcount thc
prrkmnccs sk~lisrerourcer and conbtralnts of the
people whoae problems are to be iol\'cd Wr do not
havr to clabnrdte agar herc the contrajl hetwcn
iarmfr, and thclr cnvtrnnment$ In thc FAT and in
thr developed countrvt from whcrr rcreurch ap.
prnrihcs hake bcen horroucd Thcrc differcnccr
iihen prcvrnt solut~nn?lrom hemp ~ u ~ c c s ~ f u l l v
tranaferrcd from dcvel~lnedtodcvelooinccnuntric~
In ihort stem horerrercrrih hat not heenconducud
u ~ t h a l a r m ~ n e s t s ~ r m s p s i \ p e c Th~%defccl
t~rc mosl
Itlei\ contrlh;ted to thc dearth al ,tern borcr man
agemrnt rccommcndatlon\ thit can be adopted h)
iarmrrq
Stem Borer Management: A Farming
Systems Perspective
Elements of Research Conducted
Ober lhc 1851 decdd~lhlerature on larminp rystcm,
rc~cdrchhas burgeoned md Ihr ldrmlng sysumi
approach has been recommended for reuarch on
pe,t mmagcment tcchnolafl~ofor rmall-scalc farm-
eri(Alttcr~1984) Thccr~cnl~il$aflarm~ngsy~trm,
rcirarch are that 11 15 cunducted wllh a iarmlng
sistemr pcrspectlbc that re5cdrch begins and end,
w~ththef~rmrr(Pluckncuctdl1987) Sevcralofthe
ohjrct~vcrand mcthodr employed ~n farm~ngsyc
tcmr reicarch5hould hecnns~deredlor~ntrnducmga
iarmtng systems pcrspcctlve into appl~cdstem borcr
rr,errch
Thr main ohlcct~vcrof research vllh a farming
systems ocrsocdlve that are relevant for rtem borcr
managehen; rcrearch arc
lo undcrstand thephyslcal soclal econome, and
human enwronmenl of agr~culturalproduct~on
109
 lo understand larmers'rkills, constraints. pnler-
cnm. and aptrattons.
0 to comprehend larmtng systems.
to ~dcnt~iy posatb!l!t,es for tmprovlng cx!stlng
iarmtng systems.
to eraluate new or tmprovcd practlccsfor possv
ble tnung on iarms. and
to try1 practlctr undcr normal farm cond~ttons
Reitarch wtth a larmtngsyrtcms penpecltve pup
sues thnc oh~ecttvesma~nlrwllh three methods la)
~ascdataanalysis ior descr~blngthe iarmtng envl-
ronmcnt in a rcg~on.(b) nsearch slat~on\tud~eslor
thrdr\clopmentolncwcomponents ortheassembly
o i ncu iarm~npsvstcmr. and (c) an-farm stud~cs
uhlch ~nvolvcon-farm cxsrnmenlatlon sludlcs 01
rxtsung larmmp systemr and stud~csa i adoplion
rnd larm-household Impact? of a ncw technology
Objeetlves and Methods Applied l o Stem
Borer Rnanh
In the SAT as 11becomes avatlablc through research
reports
But the sonomic and poilt~calenvtronmcnl of
sorghum product~onIn the SAT also requjres con-
t~nuousmonltorlng by rrrearchers Thts 19 parucu-
larly true In Alr~ca.where some governments have
not yet alluned levcls 01 <tablI!tv lound In many
A w n countries. and where agrtcultural research
and cxtcnslon syslcms oltrn an lessdcveloped Wc
do not suggest thalcntomoloetsts --
. enKaac tndetatlcd
survcysoithecconome. poltllcal,and tnfrastructur.
al cnwionmcnt of agrtcullural production. bccausc
much n i the necessary miormatton m provtded by
soclal sctentlsts and by the local press Wc do
recommend, however, [hat sorghum emomolog~~ts
consult socsal sclcntws and watch Ley price ratios
that ~nd~catc changes In the tconomtccnvtronment
Some 01 thc key ~ndicatorsa n thc prtcc ralios
between thc iarm.gate sorghum price and rural
labor wagcrates, or the pricehior other iood staples.
or thr prlcer lor lnscctlctdcr

I n l r b l e I we havrcorrelatcd ob,cutiveaand mcthnds Farming Syalem. Ao undcrstandtng 01 the iarm-

lor rtcm borer managcmcnt researchconductedwlth Inp sybtcm, notlust the crnpplng system, IS partiiu-
a (nrmmg ivstcrnv pcrspccuvc In t h ~ rsectton the larl! important ior stem borer researchers In the
elements o i Tablc I arc d~scu~scd SAT There arc many intricate Ihnkagcs between the
varloui productton and consumption act~vtt~cs oi
Produdlon Env~ronmenl In thc past. stem borer small suhst~stcnccor semi-subsistence larmers, and
roearch hdsgtvenadcq~steattcnlmntothe ph!ucil iarmcv may altr~butellttle ~mportanccto Ftem bor-
anblronment of sorghum producuon We cxpcct c r i ac yield rcduccrs Ii ,tom borer management
et.ca.:.:c.' u . 8 50 J..:L ,
ansoro CO: acta ICJ np! >n\8.t 1 7 ?r ac?plca 01 .armerr in?! rn.<t'~
.-I,rva: -n .~n:ne:I.mat.: xo:oaph ::ox I .!n. n',r$ 9: l@'rrmlng,$strm%Rare t .r:,lraoJrrr
losses suli~c~entl!h~ghthat larmers are likely to
change the~rfarm~ne.systcm only to accommodates
Table OWd*a md muhob oflhm borer m.W* stem borer management rccommcndat~ons
rrmt rwarab conducted r l l h I lumln: rysleml
pnpnlrl F ~ r m t r s At the outset o i any appl~ed.problem.
Mcthcdr iolrlne stem borer mana~tmcnlrcscarch,entomal.
18 u.,no~.c pra~.den.arlceon~"cthcrtnr n.r:
Fxpr r m ' ,
m::r.\ a p:, ~r r pc,t pr?n em for farmerr Tn.,
On- On- d~sunction between pesir and pest probler
Ob~mlvrr Suncy farm rtnl8on Mcdrl~w Important Stem bortrsarer~gardedBS pest$be,
Envcronment '' they cause cconomtc damage to sorghum Thts IS

.. .'..
Farming Syrlrm 0.
nccessar) but not a sulllc~entcondlt~onfor stem
borers to bccomc a pest problem lor iarmers Seb-
Farmer
Improve tech. ., -4
era1 other cond~tlonr must also hold M o r e stem
borers can be rcgarded as a pest problem
nology
E~slulcncu
f~chnotog)
.. .,
Fin! ol all, iarmers must ne able to assoclaw thc
p a t u ~ t cconomir
h damagc Thisabiltty isltkcl) lo
becondll~onedbyiarmris'knowlcdgeand sk!lls, lhc
degrcr oithc~rcxposureto iarm management ~nior.
Tnt *v "
mauon from extension rensrs and other larmers
icrhnotoo
and the attenuon they give to sorghum
 Second. larmcrs may not regard rlem borers as a
problem prsl when thc pcrcrnm .or%\arc mal. - p,t managmrnt op!~oo, a:r *r rllao rnac ana
rclat.onto the pcrccnm .one .r.scd 0 %mncr a,. .
l c and ablottc vtcld reducers of sorghum. or wherc
sorghum contrlbutcs lhttle 10 the subr~stenceof thr
larm lam8lics Undcr such candnlons stem borcn
am unhkel) lo altrac! the scarcc managrmant atten.
tion of farmers
Th~rd.stcm bomrr are not a pert problem unlcw
larmcrs havc a1 lhc~rd~hporalmans lor reduc~ng
rconomtc losscs Wilhout a lrss~hlcpcsl managr.
mcnt optton. larmcrs ma) irgard Ftcm borers ac a
pea but not as a per! problem
Establ~shlngthat stcm b o n n arc a .mst .~ r o h l r m
lorfarmcrs rcqulrcithat~une)aolslcmhorcrdam-
agr in larmcrs'fields arc complemcntcd by surveic
offarmcrs'prceptionsofrtemborarrasapest Such
surveys do not have lo be largc exerclra, ~nvolb~ng
enromolog~str agronomists and wclal clmu,ia
equipped with a detallcd qucst$onnalrr Oilcn r n
Jratory survc) uslne rapld rural appralrdl trch.
!T ma) be sufliclcnt to pcsuadc lhc researchers
that i e m borcrr are not a burnlng problem far
farmer, tn whose ijeldr enlomoloeirt~have delccled
deadheart, and srcm tunneling ' ~ h c r e more ruh
slantialc>idcnce IS rcqutrcd atormal qucsttonndlrc
survc) mayhtnccded Guldelinerlorlormdlpcrccp
tjnn ,ur>c)s can he ohtamed lrom a pe\t percrpt~nn
natuork ooeiaung from the Open lln!\cnttv UK
a
( T a ~ t1981i ~ h c i e ar reiommenddt~on15 holu
tlon for a farmer's stem-borer problem depend, on
thr~k~llrolthelarmcrandthefarm'rlrborforccon
thecorlrol~mplemcnt~ng~hcrecommenddt~on and
on thc cxoectcd returns from stem-borer mdndel-
ment ~ h adequac)
; ofiarmen'and laborcrr'\k;lls
for ~mplcmanltnrd rccommcnded conirol pract~ir
can bearrcsssdfromexperience~uith~im~larpracl-
cec hut can be determined anl) ~n on-farm trials temrperspect~~ceouldhe~ntioduccd~ntotheanal).
Arre~smentofthecostaolartem-horcrminaeemc!~~ $15 ofexoermcnts wllh neo-cldshlcul statlatical mc.
option has to be based on the farm.gate prlces o l thods that take thrcostr af relcct~nga nonsupciior
purcha~edmputr, and lhe d u e of the larm-ouncd
urces i n thc~rbest alternauic usc at the time
n thr) are needrd lor stem-borer control The
value to farmers of theu owned resources m i \
deilatc cansidcrably from avcragc market price,
art usuall) locallon-rpeclf~cand mavfluctuatecon-
sidcrabl) dur~ngthe cropplng $caron
Assesrmcnt of the expected rcturns h a lo be
bascd onfarmgatcpr~ccslor aorghumatthct~mc~t Ir
sold Thlr asscrsmcnl muit lakc ~ n t oaccounl thrl
sorghum slcms are a valurblr eommod~t),and
should cons~dcrlhc cliecl of slcm-borer managr.
mcnt on !he larmcrr' producuon and markeung
rtsks Methods for asscrrlne the costs and returns a1
an c\c: .mlr t p x Ion .a. p.o.ldra nj R f (nr.
dcifcr el al (1984) In man?instances thc rcoutred
mcthods do not rcqum an cconomjst
Impro~tTrchnoloty. Sotnet~mesthcrc may be an
opportuntl! lor improrlng farmcrs' pcsl managr-
mcnt pracucci wnh adapt~vcol-farm rerearch S m -
trill rcscarchers h a x invertcd much hope ~n thn
approach IMattsson el al 1984) From our expr-
rlence ~n lndta wtarrskcpt~calahoullhlr approach
b e c ~ u we
s have so far heen unsblcto~dcnt~ly~rad~-
. .
tlonal methods ubcd hv larmcrs to manan sorghum
inscrt pest? that havc a patcnt~alfor lmprovcmcltl
through revarch (Ran and Muellcr 19861
Evalvatr New Technologg. E,aluaunp new tach-
nolog~cs~non-,tationcxprr~mentr~sthrma~nsta~of
lradltianal pe,t managemcnl research Adoptton of
r lrrmmp systems perspectlie wciuld not rcqullc
,uh~lanudl changer in thcexpcrimcntalmethods It
xould however rcqulic a hroadcr set ol crtterla lur
e\alual~nathr resull, from cxneriments and aopm-
pilate sel;cllun of contml, (.onvenuanal rcsiarch
usec clarieal rlaii~!~cnlhypolhesls tebtlng to dcc~de
uhcthcr a ncu management techn~quepcrlorm, In
rome~rnahlei$I hetterthdnacomrol tcchnlque with
some arbltrsri level of uenlllcance Such rcrrarch
may ha ~rrelcvantfrom r?armlng,y,tcmr pcrvcr-
I I ~ K Cla~s~crl
~lat~aucalarhn~quesan deslgncd to
ruleout1)pe I crrors, the error nl re~ect~n~thcnull
h)pothe,~\ when 11 15 trur or thc error of rciam.
mend~nqr tcchnolnev l h r l 15 not suncrcor lo thc
inntrill-The ~on*cntknall)chow" probabiltty a1
iommjttlng thlb error h e r r ~no rclal~onto lhc cco.
nomlcconsqucnces o l lhtc error Thc larmlng hg*.
tcchnolog) ~ n t oaccounl (Mandcrschcid 1965
1)lllon and Offlccr 1971)
Tcchnology~valual~on,thcevaluauonolncucul-
Itbirr. ~n oanicular, s oilen conducted accord~nelo
rjpid rules dci~nedby a largc government restarch
admtntstrauon Thcserulcs arcdcs~gncdtosclcctthc
best tcchnolag$rr for a country, or lor large agrocli-
mauc zones, but may be too rtgld lor location-
spec~llctcchnolag~esthat pcriorm very well in some
lorat~onr, but poorly In the larger cnvlronmcnls
cokcrcd by thcsc rvaluatlon rulcs
Wllh lhc rap~dlylalllng coils of computcr time.
modcltng ts kcoming an lncrcaslngly aaracuvr
opponua~tyfor~ntrductngafamn~~ystcms~n.thc b m c needs and ob~cctivcsof a echnologv
pcuve Into the evaluat!on o i new ttchnologtes
, - .
bcfort the" arc aetuallv tested an (arms Howevrr
computer modelr usually have htgh XI-up cosa and
their w can bc recommendedonly whrn the probpcr-
tlve technology w l l have man? lmponanr and con).
pkx rtprcusslom ~nthe exlstlng famung syslcms
T a t m t New Technology. Once a promlstng ncu
stem borer managemca option has been ~dcnuhcd
In on-aallon cxpenmmts $1should be lcsted on a
smsll number of rcprcsentattve farms before it I<
recommended to a large number of farmer? Theac
cesn should be dcngned t a evaluate lhc feaah\in\
and the pctiormance of the new opoon compared
ulth farmcrs'convenlinnal tcchnlques These tc51s
al\o help to tdent~ivweaknesses or dctcctr of the
trchntquc that ma! have pane unnouced In on-
stallan experiments The\ proilde icedback from
farmers that IS ersenrial for ilne-Iunlng the rccom-
mendal~on
The mo.1 crucral lest ot an\ nru tcchnulo~iI, 115
adoption bpfarmcrc The recommendation oi a nru
pest mmagcmcnt technolog\ hhould he lollowed hs
adoptton studla that include adopters as well ds
nonddoplcrr Such aud~c\rcl\ on survcvs The\
allou resrarchcn lo documenl Ihr sucucss of lhe~r
reicaich thcy prowdciniormai~onon~hecharactc~
lstlrs of rcrcarcherr' cllentr and thc~ra,rc<,ment of
the new methods Thls Inlormation helps reicarchcrr
to design the next peocrauon of tcchnolng) and i n
obla~nfund5 for 11sdevelopmenl
Summary end C o n c l u s i o n s
In ~ h papcr
u we habe bran\ re\~ewcdthe practic~ll.
~ t vmdadoouon ofr1em.borermanaeemcntrecom-
mendationsthat have becn reported in thcl~tcralurc
Thn rcbteu tnd~caledthat most recommendauoll,
are ~mpracucalsnd hare no1 hecn adopted b)
farmerr In the SAT The hniroduclion of a farmlng
s),tems perspccubc lo applied stem.borer managr.
men1 research WIE su~~esled and some approprlalc
object~vesand research methods were dlscu\scd
Our expressed concern was f n r applccd slem-borer
researchto take Into account farmm'percepllon of
the stem-barer pest problem and farmers capecliy
to mplcment recommended stem borer managc-
mcnt prachces so that appl~edresearch results In
recommendattons of practical use to SAT farmer5
Thls notion has b u n aptly summar~zedby Re~rhcl.
deticr and Bottrcll(1985 p 286) "ldcnt!ficat~on of
nclplenl group a obvtously an Important step bul
one that Is not alwavsperformed Byparstngthtsstep
will probahlv lead to poorlr dcslgncd pssl-manapc
men1 proelammn "
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Lutw B~oloatqutContnIcrKeiaatu,au~Psr~ibil~nc%tn
Alr~qur dr PQuol. 9 I 1 teb 1981 Ihkar Scncpsl
Hoshlnglon. D C . i S A In8led \tsterAgmc) lorlnlrr-
nsl~onalDcvsluprncnl
Vwmze, K b . 19115 Sorghum Imccl p b l i ~n We51 Alrlcil
IPagri d l ~n Prucccd~nghui chr lnlrrnalional Sor~hum
Fniomnlog) Worklhop. I5 21 Jul 1984. Cellrgr Sllllon,
Irxar. (,\A Pdianchrru. A P 502 124, lndlr Internu.
rlonal Crops Rc%carchI n ~ i ~ tlor
~ llhcScmt-Ar~d
e lroplcl
rye. I H.B. 19MI The lnsrcl p u l $ oigramlnacmu, crops
IIK H t i Md)rv!'c Slalonrr) Oll,cr 48 pp
Ograro. U. 1983 Inlenrlt) Irvcl$ nislrm horrn $n mslrc
and sorghum end thc riiecl on jlrld undir dtllennl Inter.
rropp~ngpaucm, Imcrl Sc~enrc dnd ill Applteal~on
411 2) JJ 37
P I ~ t k n n t ,D.I.., Dlllsn, J.I... rnd Vdlaey~.(8.1. 19111
Rcruu of iuncepti ~n laim~ng\yitcmhn~rarch lhe whet.
m d hou Pigcr 2 Vim Proeerdlngoilha Workrhop
anFarming b j i l c m i Research. 11.21 Frb IWh.lCKISA1,
i r n e r , Illdin Palanchrru. A P 542 324, lnd~aInternu.
llonal Crop, Rtscarch Inil#tuceinr $heSrml.Arldlraplcl
P n d h n . S. d. 1911 In\c~t~gstions
on lnicct p r t r o i
~orghvmand milblr final tichoicsl nport 1965 10 Yew
Deli, India lndun Agricullvrrl R t ~ ~ a r cInsolutr
h 157
PP
PSI
.
Raa V d and M u e l k , R A E. I986 Some tndilional
mntrol p n c t a 01SAT farmers R e ~ n m hMsnlgr-
Taw G 1, M .
u Rd). K V Leuuhwr. K H-.
L R I983 Sarphum1n~1~drnl~f~urtnniundhook Inlor-
.
men, Program Ecanomter Group YLS Mirerllanrovr msl8on Bulkun no I2 Psunehrrv A P $92 124 lndle
%ncs Patanchcru A P SO2 124 l n d ~lnlcrnsl~onsl Inuilulionrl Ciopa Kcvamh Inallua lor lhe StmbAnd
Crops R r v ~ i r hlnstltu!r lor thr Scm~ArtdTropla Troplcr 12Jpp
iLim8tsd dlilribvl8on I
h k s . P T l M l 5uricb 01 lorlr< a1 ecrrsi lo pcrls in
R d c h r M e r . K H. Carbon. C A . i n d honm. G A K c n u and Tsnzanls F4O 9impnq1um on Crop Loisel
1984 Economlr prdcl~neslclr crop s r l conlrol FA0 Komc 2 19 88
Plant Producl8on and Piotrnon P a p na $8 Romc
Walker. TS 1981 Eeonomr pm,pcr~. k~ s p r o l a r c q
Ilal! b A 0
Intcrvmuonr hn India r S A I impl#calion$for nbcilrch
.
Rdrheldebr. K H and Botlnll. D L 19XI Eirluoling ~ I I U I C Li i l l m l l o n
sl I C R I \ A l Resource M8nagcmcnl
~ h ceconomic and total mpl~carlonsol ipniv,iuisl pcrrr Praerom Lronomlci Group Ptogrlri Report no19
and lhllr conliol Crop Piolccoan 4131 ?XI 297 Palvnrhrru A P 102 124 lndls Inurnac~onalCrops
Rosearch Inlilltu~e101 the \em# Arid Treptri I L ~ m ~ t l d
Rjm. J G .Bldlngn.P D , Rno. .1P .and Pushpmmm.?
dirrnhu18onI
Yd4 Ihc dclrrmnsnl< of indnldual dai, and nulnlonrl
~lrturin 582 iillaps 01 roulhrrn lndir Kmcarch BuiIet8n Walkrr. T S .and Rao. K \ S 1982 Ylcld and ntl rclurn
no7 Patanchcru 4 P 502 14: lndti Inlrrnal~onal(ropr d # h t r ~ h ~ l #ino ncommon
i i ~ l l s mcmpptnp 'isam, ~n the
Kcrrrnh In%llterlor the Semi A t ~ dlrnplcr ccm8 and lropicb 01 lndva Economa, Program P~ogrri\
Kcporl no 41 Palsnchrru A P 502 124 lndis Inarna
\nhu R d d ) K I and D n ~ l nJ C 1919 Pr% ol
IonalCrop< Kc,raah lnililulr lor lhe\rm~.Artd lraptci
wrghum dnd p a r mhllel and (halt parrrllrr and prrds
ILtm~trdd>slrihut~on I
lor, recorded 4 1 I(R1\41 Center Indli up lu 4ugu\l
1979 Crnal Enlnn>ulogi Pmgrrv Kcpurl no 2 Patdn
~ h c r u4 P I02 1% lndla Inlrrnal~onrl( m p ~Kciearrh
In>l#tu!r iz>r Ihr \cmi 4 r d l i n p l i \ ?1 pp iLlmIrd
dlitrlhulton I

50hu Reddy. K \ rnd Omulu. F O IPNI \orghum

I P V E ~whi L I I U ~ ~ I I O O~nrratcrn 4frwr I'ayrb 11 I6 i m Pro
cmd~np,uitha lntrrnat~onrl\oryhumtnromulog! &or).
\hop I121 lul 1984 (ollrga \curlon l c x d r L I A
Pilanchrro \ P ?I! 124 indld lnlarnal8onal Cmpi
R ~ ~ c r r lnil81uir
rh for Ihr \em! 4i1d Trupli\
rnhv Redd, K \ (In pros I4ru,m<nl of on lirnl$~eld
loirri ~n sorehum due lo !n*rl prrlr B. Prirrtdiny%nlIha
Ke$onalSlud! Hurk>hopilnOn I ~ r m r n dPar1 Hdricu
1 ,>rviul l c r r u l Crop, n 4lrliu [!u< l o l'crl$ dnd 01,
tarn 1 5 (kt IYh' Whim Pulnl Kmtr \.~rnb>
hcnir lnfrrnvt>iinrl (cntrc lrir lnvct P h i i ~ l o g !m d
Lcolog5
\harm, H C 19x5 \!rrlc&a,fclr pril cnntrol in rorghum
~n l n d ~ r Irop~criPC,! Yanrgcmml 11 I67 I85

Tail E J Id I IYKI !,u#drl#nn lilr rr$rarch Pcrcrpton

and management of pcili and pcrucido nrrvork Milinn
K q n m Beklnghamrhlrr IK Opcn Lniirra#l! Tcchnol
ogi Facult, \)urrn%Group

T a n p S I . ~ n dLtuwhrrr. K 1985 M ~ t h t d nl$ rrarlng

lniirlalton and cialual~nnl o r ! h~lri,rari~ilvirer!rranca~n
sorghum Pager 1'5 188 I" Procecdlngi o l lhr lnlrrna
lionil Sorghum Entomulog) Uorkrhop 11 21 Jul 1984
Culbgt >tallan Tcxar L I A Palsnchsru 4 P I02 324
lndlr ln~rnalionalC r o p Rraarrh ln~t8tuIrlorlhaStmr
Arld Troplci

Reyn Slnm older plants (six wctkr old) are pre
fcmd for ovtpasltton IS this n l a t d to the nut,,
tlonal status of thc plant on which thc larvae will
feed?
H a m Posrtbly butldonot h a v c n l r ~ a n t ~ n f o ~ m a
tlon Borcrs on crop Hosts srcm to have dcbcloped
thc strateey ofgolng for Ihc youngost tlsrucs E i l
d c n c c o f ~ ~work
n t on Ch,/oin Afrlcasugpectsthat
leaf whorl tiaruc ia more nurrctcaus
Nwsnre You spoke on the cosrolut\on ofceicala
and then stem borrrs We know that sorghum and
prarl mlllcl onglnated in Afrlca and that thc Impor
tan! htrm borcn are lnd~pcnousto Afrlca One
would have expected that thc natural encmars of
stem boren would havaalsocvol\.ed In parallel wcth
the~rhastshut this tr not thecarc Could you plea$c
clucidaeq
HaRia Thls IS a relcvant question and 11 I I a lhupe
It IS a matter of balanrc pdrt of thc answer ~r
::fi c natural cnrmlel are not opeiallne Ihc ,Ira
leg\ that you uauld Ihkc them to operatc Further
more thcstraug) ofnaturalenem~r\~snotaim~d n Betbrdar Malibel A p ~ o d e x a m p l c ~ Wrqt
climinat,np their hosts Man) art general parall
told3 or prcdatorr dcvclop~ngon a a ~ d eranyc of
hortr What we have are spec~al~sl item b o n n that
\rr nould like be51 controlled by hlghl) rpec~alllcd
parrvto>dr Not that matt\ exlit
Y~dyabhvrhnam It sa, $u%gchtedthat chcm+al
controlmeasureabhould hcrdoptcd whcntver ncce,
sari Hou do )ouasccrtaln uhlch alturtlon u a i r m l i
the urr of chem~calcontrol' Furtnermore would 11
bc bald in the casc ol pcdunclk ~nlcsration'
Prem Klshorr Thc refeicnce to chemlcal control
u r r in thr context of detrrmlning economlc thre5h
olds (tud~e, on ~nsrct~c~dc ipplication ti) protect
agatnrt pedunclr micilatliln art sull Idcklne Th~h
ncedr to k ~nvestagatcd
Sharrna I f I havc understood corrccll\ you hric
rncntloned that carbafuran prar~dcsborcr control
I y p to 45 days In that case would you rrcom
mrnd any ~nrcctic~dc control lmcr at that ?laat the
crop ~ i lki In the boot leristage7
Prem Kirhore Data from lrlals conducted on heed
trcatmcnl sot1 iurrou appllcatlan or sldc-dressmp
at I5 days after germinaton indicate that under
moderate levels of resinance there IS no need tor
another appllcauan of cnrbofuran
Surynnnayana Munhy Whrt a n the affcctc 01
tnrcctic~des urcd In borer control on the naturrl
enemy complca~What are the dangers of borer
rwstanato m w f l ~ c ~ ar d awe now havc In Helrolhii'
Prern Kwharr The cffcct of dflerenl i n s ~ t i ~ c d c r
used ~n sorghum stem borrcantrol on natural enc
m t o has not been studied tn daatl Houevcr data
gencratcdanthccffect oic~~dosulfan4%graoulc~o!
d u ~ Sr ~ O Uthat ~ t s ~ p p l l c a l ~ ~ n d ~ailcct
c s n onatural
t
cnemlch C pnneliushas not derclaped rcslstancc to
Inscittndm
Ytdyabhushnarn Dclaycd plantbng her been sup
pr,tcd In cultural control of l t r m borer\ Rut Ihl,
practacc wnuid be dnastrour ~n the lnd~ancontext
u h e r shoot fl\ ~nirstauonuouid \urn!) wlpe out r
Isle crop Morrobcr afortnlght delay In plantln&
r ~ lscrlously
l aficct the crop crprearlan Ir th~,
recnmmendilt~onthemlore ol an) practical valuc'
Vsrma The suggestLon In quertlon ~s not a gctteral~
zaunn for saving Ihe crop apalnrt \tcm borer It ir
pcrttnent howcrcr ~nrcploni uhcrr \hoot fly 15 not
s problem For example ~n northern lndix where
5orphum IS grown lor foddc~ wr row In lul)
Lukdahr 110 you know ol an eramplc where thc
comhlncd action n i the ndti\e pdraaltes artuull)
iupprerred horcr populal~onhalow Ihc cconumlr
thre5hold lcrcI7
s ~ n Alrtia
with thc augarcane stem horcr Fldilnil $airhartnil
1he natural cncmy complex ol ants parasilea and
prrdatnr5 have kept borcr dilmagc to ler, than 5U
W c havc montturcd thl, hrrrerlormarc than 10\ear$
i n \crcral +upmane larm\and hrvc loundthlr I h r l
mainta~ncd Whcn t h ~ rbalrnie 1s up,ot for cxam
pie throughtheuicofinrecur~dc~ horerdrmagriin
,terns increases to ktween I5 and 2Il',,
\ahu Reddy In assesslnp yield lo*$ u\~ngv i r l n u ,
Idr\dl dtnstlr\ dl \arious gr,nvth stages what prr
cautlon~dtd)ou trke to cl~rn~nar natural lnlertat~un'
Tanejn In trlali ~onductcddl ICRI5AT (cnta
irups wcre plintcd i n mjd June when naturrl iltfr,
tallon 15 negl~p~hle An) nalurrl lnleslrllon ~r lakcn
into cons>derat~on b i compailmn with thc iomrol
( x r o inlestauoni Usudllr thn is lc5i than I%
~nlerlallon
5nhv Reddy In your \tud~eson rvoldablc larres
yuu certa~nlrrncountrredolherrorghumpcrls~urh
dsm~dgeand headbugs What atcp$d~dyou lakc lo
procct your crop agatnqt thev fnsacts so a? to have
accurate data on loisri duc lo rtrm borer'
Tmqa Wc ipra) to proart the crop from pos,~blc
pdn~clciccdlng pcstr as and when requ~red Slm
ilarlv we use btrd starer, analnit birds
Chvndvrrnr You havcpre\entcd thcrcsultl of your
rtudler w ~ t hpan!cular hybr~dssuch as CSH I but
we need to have results on the rcltascd h)bnds In
lndla cspclally CSH 5 and CSH 9 for comparllon
T m j s We do not havc such results snd smdar
l n a l i w ~ t CSH
h 5 and CSH 9 need to be conduclcd
Nwinze Dr Lcuachncr has pointed out that the
effecl 01 stem tunneling on gram ylcld dcpcnds on
crop age at ~nfcsral~on and polnl of bonr entry and
attack Howrver iherc arc no data to show lhir I
bcilcvethatw~lhthestcmcagctcchn~que wcshauld
conclus~~clyshou that lhts inthccksc Expcnmenls
should be dcstgned In lhls repard
Wllrman This should be a major p o r l lor diacur-
sion by Dr Vcrma's group
Lukefihr Bascd on data probided b\ Dr Tancja
one nccds lo havc~nlestationcarly ~nlhcseaconwith
a ic\cl 01 ~nleslat~on lhal greatl) cxcrcd.i what one
normall) exprcls ~n thr first or sccond gtnerallon I
dm uondcringifthrrcrrallv Isaproblcminirrmeri
11elds
Muellrr Thcrc ma) be a problem ~n farmcn flcldr
but lrom our obscnar~ons fnrmcrr arc not panlcu.
larli concerned ullh stem bonrs Farmers ma) haw
5 IO? lorrcrduetoborcri hutthc) ma) havc blggc~
problems such as drought and Srnpa thar duarl
Inrwr duc to borers
Nwtnzr Thcrc arc pracllcnlly no data a\ailablc
lrom farmcr, ficlds on iclual losses duc to horcrs
l h c r r arc houcier tCDOrl\ on ocst ~ncldencc Out
suooort our on.stauon rcsearch with what Ir rcdlv
h n k n l n g on the farmen' Rcld
Hams Thcrcareallsonsoltrchn~cal~t~cs andlech-
n~calaspeculotheissucofwhcthcrslemborcnana
probltm or not We as enlomologists may sn th~s
as a oroblcm but Ithink In manr cases farmers do
no! Thcrc musl be rituatlons when thiy do and
thosc arc Iha uluatlons thal have to be defined so
thal something piact>calcan he done ~n provid~ng
solullons Thcsc a n some of the kcy Issuer bclng
eonrldcrcd In thtr workshop I f there a n problem,
whcrc arc the) and what do they amount toqThe
i ~ r sthlngtodo
l a lo try and asscss the losses 111hcy
occur I t is no1 easy bul it lathe first stcpln Scttlng
up proper research programs rhlchare ~nlendcdlo
provldc appllcd rolutions

iarmcrr liclds \Ccalsonccd 1olakc(armcrs pcrcrp-

Ikon of thc problem Inlo con?iderat!on
Lukelihr We should bc cdrctul bccaurr othcrw~w
)ou vl up a rcsearch prngrrm lo scc tf a problem
c x ~ ~ ralhcr
t, lhan 10 solic a problcm
Nwsnzt BUI that cr uhcrc the pioblcm lhcs I1 ~r
urong to rn up a rcrcarch program ba,ed on lnfnr
mailan generatedsolel) lrom a rescarrhstal~on We
must accumulale bast lint lnformal~nnonthrcktrnl
of damape on farmers l~eldr
l t u w h n a HOH would lour dwlllon ln l c r m 01
roearch prlornleton rlem borcrcon~rolbc aikctcd
~ n r r ~ t u a u o n u h c r c f a r m c r s p c r I54damage
cc~~~ b\
sIrm borcr ar unlmporlanll
Mucllcr What t i lmoortant ~sfarmrrsoerccotnin of
.tern borrrdamagc rilaunt lo lasscsiroiothcr!Icld
reducers For crampie 11 the same farmers pcructrr
lasrcr irom other r ~ e l dreduccn such as Slrlpato br
much hlghri than ISrt and 11this pcrccptlon Is
supported by jlcld loss survcvr stem borcn would
no1 be Ilsted as top priorir! for appl~cd probicm-
solv~ngresearch
Snhu Reddy Wc cannot solvc all rhc problenls ~n
onr da) Then arc wvcral consrrainn bcr~dcstnrcc~
pcsrs whlch the larmcrs musl deal with We nccd lo