ABSTRACT
An increasing number of studies evaluating the potential of integrated pest management have focused on socio-economic factors that may influence the successful introduction of improved methods of pest control among small-scale farmers in the tropics. Several researchers have studied farmers' perceptions of agricultural pests and yield losses, as well as traditional pest control practices. South Nyanza district, which extends from the shore of Lake Victoria, 1.128 m above sea level, to the foothills of the Kisii highlands, at over 1,500 m, is environmentally diverse. The rain fall distribution is bimodal, with a long' rainy season from March through May and a 'short' rainy season from October to December. To identify the pests that farmers considered to be threats to agricultural production, particularly to grain crops, compared the perceptions of farmers with existing data on the distribution of insect pests in the district.
