Insect Pests

A pest can be described as any organism capable of causing damage to crop plants. Pests are organisms considered harmful or detrimental to humans, his possessions and other human interests.

Economic importance of insect pests

• Insect pests destroy crops in the field through their biting, chewing, boring, sucking and defoliation activities.
• Spots of injuries by insects may predispose crops to disease attack.
• They increase the cost of production during the course of controlling them as a result of purchasing chemicals andlabor incurred iN their application.
• Some are carriers or vectors of diseases e.g. Aphids are vectors of bean common mosaic virus and white flies as vectors of tomato leaf curl virus
• They reduce the quality of produce in the field as well as in the store e.g. Potato tuber moth on Irish Potatoes
• They render vegetables and fruits making unattractive and unmarketable e.g. damage on crucifer leaves by diamond back moth
• They generally reduce the yield of crops due to their feeding on the leaves and the harvestable parts of the crop
• They cause reduction in viability of stored produce
• They can also cause total death of crop plants where the whole plant succumbs to the pest damage leading to reduction of profits or total loss. Example banana weevil Cosmopolites sordidus, burrowing nematode