Abstract
Despite their well-known role as pests, termites also provide essential ecosystem services. In this paper, we undertook a comprehensive review of studies on human-termite interactions and farmers' indigenous knowledge across Sub-Saharan Africa in an effort to build coherent principles for termite management. The review revealed that local communities have comprehensive indigenous knowledge of termite ecology and taxonomy, and apply various indigenous control practices. Many communities also have elaborate knowledge of the nutritional and medicinal value of termites and mushrooms associated with termite nests. Children and women also widely consume termite mound soil for nutritional or other benefits encouraged by indigenous belief systems. In addition, subsistence farmers use termites as indicators of soil fertility, and use termite mound soil in low-risk farming strategies for crop production. In the past, chemical control of termites has been initiated without empirical data on the termite species, their damage threshold, and the social, ecological, or economic risks and trade-offs of the control. This review has provided new insights into the intimate nature of human-termite interactions in Africa and the risks of chemical control of termites to human welfare and the environment. We recommend that management of termites in future should be built on farmers' indigenous knowledge and adequate understanding of the ecology of the local termite species.
Highlights
A distinct dichotomy exists between the pest management literature that depicts termites as “pests” and the ecological literature demonstrating their crucial role in ecosystems
The review of the general literature and specific studies leads to the conclusion that local communities have comprehensive indigenous knowledge of termite ecology and taxonomy and apply various indigenous control practices
Farmer innovation was evident in the diversity of indigenous termite control practices
Summary
A distinct dichotomy exists between the pest management literature that depicts termites as “pests” and the ecological literature demonstrating their crucial role in ecosystems. The ongoing interest in sustainable agriculture and food security in Africa highlights the need for a more balanced approach to termite control and maintenance of their ecosystem services. To begin to address the mismatch between these two objectives, a holistic appraisal of the termite problem and opportunities for their sustainable management is needed. Sustainable termite management is defined here as one that ensures (1) control of the pest species without causing ecological damage and loss of the ecosystem services provided by termites, (2) conservation of the non-pest termite species, and (3) use of termites and associated resources without exhausting them. Management of risk and ensuring resilience are key concepts in sustainability, and these beg for a strategy that combines the skills and indigenous technical knowledge of farmers with modern scientific knowledge (Sileshi et al 2008a)
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