Proceedings of the first Annual Conference Crop protection Society of Ethiopia

Abstract

It is my great pleasure to address the 2nd Annual Conference of the Crop Protection Society of Ethiopia which is being held at a time when our country is faced with severe food shortages caused by drought and exacerbated by agricultural pests. Agricultural pests pose a serious threat to crop production in our country. Although no systematic loss assessment studies have been undertaken, the annual pre- and post-harvest crop losses are estimated to be at least 30 percent or the equivalent of two million tons of grain. For a country like ours, where millions of people are suffering from lack of adequate food supply, such food losses cannot be tolerated. As you are all aware the pest problems in our country might be divided into four main groups (Classes) (1) the migratory pests that impact serious losses across national boundaries, and thus require both national and multinational action, (2) sedentary pests that have periodic upsurges that are beyond the capacity of on-farm control, (3) pests that may be introduced either intentionally or accidentally and which require special research efforts to develop resistant varieties, biological controls and farm level control programmes and (4) the usually indigenous pest complexes whose control are normally an onfarm responsibility with government assistance through technical advises and services based on research findings. It is clear that the class 1 and class 2 pests require both national and international capacity for early warning based on monitoring and international assistance when local capacity proves inadequate. The class 3 pests usually require the assistance of international efforts either through technology transfer or research. The class 4 pests require adequate national research and extension capacity to provide farmers with the necessary control information and the development of the required input and credit infrastructure for the farmer to carry out the necessary control action.