Constraints and Opportunities for the Sustainable Aphid Pest Management in Leaf Cabbage

Abstract

During and post COVID 19 era, there has been an increase in the use and production of garlic (Alium sativum L.) the world-over for its medicinal value. Garlic has been used as a remedy to cure the pandemic flu-like ailment. Garlic has been used since 1550 B.C. as a remedy for a numerous ailments (So et al., 2021). In agriculture, garlic extracts are reported to have been used as pesticide or fungicides in crop protection against aphids, ants, soil bacteria, and fungi, particularly those in the class Oomycetes. Garlic is a relatively new crop in Zimbabwe. Farmers need demonstrable advantage of incorporating garlic as an inter-crop to facilitate growth of crops susceptible to aphid such as leaf vegetable in terms of Land Equivalent Ratio (LER) and Monetary Advantage Index (MAI). Land is predominantly a constraint in farming, so farmers seek to produce high yields per given area. High monetary return on the other hand, is the ultimate objective of farming since agriculture is a business. LER and MAI among other indices need to be considered for selection of an inter-crop crop.