Table 1 Some documented cereal pests in Africa, their host crops, countries affected, and losses incurred
From: Cereal production in Africa: the threat of certain pests and weeds in a changing climate—a review
Pest category | Pest names | Cereal crop affected | Areas found/ affected | Losses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Insects | Stemborer Busseola fusca, Chilo partellus, C. zacconius, Sesamia calamistis | Rice, sorghum, maize and millet | South, East and West Africa and the ocean islands [46] | In Ghana, yield losses as high as 40% have been attributed to B. fusca infestations. Damages of 22–25% damage by the pest have been recorded in late-planted maize in Tanzania [56] |
Fall armyworm (FAW) Spodoptera frugiperda | Maize and sorghum | Nigeria, Sao Tomé, Principe, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Ethiopia, and Tanzania [60] | Annual losses in maize of 4.1 to 17.7 million tonnes [69] | |
African rice gall midge, Orseolia oryzivora | Rice | Nigeria, Sudan, Niger, Senegal, Benin, Burkina-Faso, Gambia, Guinea, Malawi, Mali, Sierra Leone, Togo, Tanzania and Zambia [74] | Severe infestations of O. oryzivora in rice fields induce 20–100% yield losses [76] | |
Weeds | Witchweed Striga hermonthica | Maize, pearl millet, sorghum and rice | Eastern Africa includes Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, Rwanda, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Burundi [78] | Yield losses of 21% and 62% in lowland rice were recorded in Cote d’Ivoire and Kenya, respectively [79] |
Striga asiatica | Sorghum, pearl millet, rice | West Africa and East Africa [79] | Yield losses of 80% loss in rice in Madagascar [79] | |
Imperata cylindrica | Rice and maize | West Africa (Nigeria, Benin, Sudan, Cote d'Ivoire) [80] | Causes up to 50% loss in maize [80] | |
Rodents | Mastomys natalensis (multimammate rat) | Maize, rice, and sorghum | Mainly in Sub-Saharan Africa [81] | An average of 48% yield losses can be caused by an outbreak of this rat on maize fields (Swanepoel et al., 2017) |
Birds | Quelea species-billed quelea (Quelea quelea) Red-headed quelea (Q. erythrops) | Barley, finger millet, rice, sorghum, and wheat. Except for maize [83] | Ethiopia, Kenya, Cameroon, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, South Africa, and Uganda [84] | An average of 13.2% of damage is caused by quelea birds to rice production [85] |