ABSTRACT
Throughout tropical Africa, small-scale farmers continue to use traditional methods to cultivate their meagre land resources. In Nigeria these farmers constituted 18% and 15% of the total population in 1965 to 1984 and the projected figure for 1995 is 12%. Peasant farmers produce at least 80% of the food consumed in West Africa, and efforts to increase national food production must involve inputs and programs directed at helping them. The small farm in tropical Africa is a complex ecosystem, varying in size from 0.001 ha to about 0.45 ha. Food crops such as maize, cassava, yams, potatoes, sorghum, cowpea, okra, melon, tomatoes and a variety of leafy vegetables, along with some medicinal crops, are cultivated in traditional mixed inter-cropping systems combined with shifting cultivation. Surveys indicated that a wide range of insects attacked the crops throughout the year, with varying degrees of damage.
