Organic Pest Management Practices and Soil Biodiversity Conservation in Budondo Sub County, Jinja District

Abstract

Biodiversity is at the verge of alarming decline globally, attributed to change in agricultural practices such as the use of inorganic pesticides. These agricultural practices have changed the distribution and quality of habitual biodiversity and their environment. A study of 340 households in Budondo Sub-County farming community, Jinja District revealed that pests destroyed their crops and caused significant yield losses. This was manifested in their score of responses viz. strongly agreed (1175) and strongly agreed (1075) respectively. Farmers demonstrated knowledge of soil macro fauna (96.2%), however, they claimed that termites and earthworms were pests (45.6%) because they ate and reduced their crop yield (86.8%) and constructed ant hills which were labourious to dig (60.3%). Farmers therefore sprayed their gardens with inorganic pesticides (81.8%) in order to eliminate pests quickly (86.5%). They also poisoned termites and earthworms with inorganic chemicals (77.9%) disregarding their long term economic benefits of decomposing organic matter and nutrient recycling among others. The study also revealed that organic pest management practices have not been adopted because of inadequate training, inadequate knowledge which was found significant at (χ² (77, n=340) =180.441, p< .001) and attitude significant at (χ² (99, n=340) =161.511, p< .001). The researcher therefore recommended the government of Uganda to make and adopt a policy and action plan on organic pest management for sustainable soil biodiversity conservation. Farmers in Budondo be sensitized and trained on how to mix plant extracts to form organic pesticides if any conservation measures were to be attained.