Abstract:
Although undocumented, pest management in Ethiopia has been
going on for millennia by traditional farmers, who have been
depending on the use of their indigenous knowledge and practices
to manage pests of crops including insect pests, plant diseases,
weeds and vertebrate pests. This is evidenced by the presence of
genetic resistance in crops like barley (Hordeum vulgareL.) from
Ethiopia, which has its center of diversity in Ethiopia. For instance
Ethiopia provided the only source of resistance to the barley yellow
dwarf virus (BYDV) disease in barley (Qualset et a l, 1977). Powdery
mildew resistance originally retrieved from Ethiopian landraces
collected in the 1930s and nowadays controls mildew resistance in
the majority of cultivated European spring barley elite varieties
(Piffanelli et a l, 2004). Resistance to loose smut (Ustilago nuda (Jens.)
Rostr.) was identified in two introductions of barley (Hordeum
vulgare L.) from Ethiopia (cr9973 and cI14099) (Thomas and
Metcalfe, 1983). Powdery mildew resistance in barley was also
identified in Ethiopian barley germplasms in Germany (Jorgensen,
1992).
Nevertheless, in general, before the 1950s in Ethiopia agriculture was
diversified and follows old custom trends in most of the country and
farms used to experience extensive crop losses due to pests'
damages. In the 1950s the Ministry of Agriculture made great strides
in plant pest control and started giving increased attention to other important pests besides the desert locust, which was taken as
number one pest affecting crop production in general. Major pest
problems which were not formally recognized, at the time, by the
Ministry included com stem borer, pink bollworm, corn earworm,
livestock parasites, cutworms, aphids, fruit flies, and a number of
plant diseases. Many of these had been observed, but then no
organization existed to do experimental or demonstration work.
Moreover tools for the development of a pest control program were
non-existent, at the time, since no national program had been
instituted.
