Indigenous Knowledge in Termite Management of Agricultural Crops – A Review

Abstract

Some species of termites are becoming a threat to the farming community as they are directly and indirectly using major losses to the agricultural system. Reports on economic losses caused by termite infestations have been made worldwide. Intensive use of insecticides which is of great environmental and health concerns was the most frequently control option. To make termites management environmentally friendly, there is a need to integrate indigenous knowledge about pest management techniques into the scaling-up process in order to improve farmers’ pest management practices. For centuries, humans planned agricultural production and conserved natural resources with the instruments of indigenous knowledge (IK). The development of indigenous knowledge systems is cumulative, representing generations of experience, careful observations, trial and error experiments. The objective of this review, we present the available information related to indigenous technology in termite management practices and to identify suitable and sustainable indigenous methods adopted by resource poor farmers for termite control.