THE ROLE OF HOST-PLANT RESISTANCE AND INTERCROPPING IN INTEGRATED PEST-MANAGEMENT (IPM) WITH SPECIFIC REFERENCE TO THE OYUGIS PROJECT

Intercropping studies conducted at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) for 10 years identified sorghum and cow pea as the best crop combination in terms of minimizing crop borer pop ulation, stabilizing productivity and reducing yield loss due to crop borers. The maize and cowpea dicrop and the sorghum, cowpea and maize intercrop were also found to be effective. The worst crop combination was found to be an intercrop between maize and sorghum. It was also in dicated that incorporation of resistant and tolerant cultivars in an i ntercropping system offers an added advantage (by reducing the pest at tack) to farmers who for some very good reasons had to plant the maize and sorghum dicrop (the worst combination). The use of resistant and tolerant cultivars therefore offers an alternative. In the study furth er observations were noted from three combinations, viz. resistant/res istant resistant/susceptible; and susceptible/susceptible. Results sho wed that there were no significant differences between resistant and r esistant/susceptible combinations, suggesting the possibility of inter cropping resistant and susceptible plants within a monoculture of mult i-line intercropping- This finding opened up a new chapter in cropping systems in the sense that intercropping was seen as a practice that w ould also benefit large-scale farmers.