Insects and Human Welfare with Special Reference to their Role in Agricultural Production
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Date
1978-10-19
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Obafemi Awolowo University Press
Abstract
This I believe is the second ineugural Lecture to be delivered by a
Professor of Plant Science in this University but the first by a
Nigerian Professor of Plant Science. My predecessor, Professor
Duncan, who first inaugurated the chair of Plant Science showed in
his treatise quite clearly the importance of weather in agricultural
production in a discipline known as agro climatology. My own
lecture today on "Insects and Human Welfare," is in the area of
insect science known technically as entomology. You can see,
therefore, that Plant Science has a broad scope, some of its
disciplines seemingly unrelated to an uninitiated observer. Indeed, I
have often been asked: 'If you study insects, which are in any case
animals, why are you not in the Department of Animal Science?'.
As an agricultural entomologist the ultimate aim of my study of
insects is to be able to reduce the damages insect pests do to crop
plants, livestock and agricultural produce, and quite recently, that
function has been extended to the improvement of environmental
factors under which beneficial insects like parasites or predators of
insect pests and insects that pollinate flowers can multiply and
thrive well. But principally because insect pests of crops are several
times more numerous than pests of livestock, entomologists are
based in the Department of Plant Science rather than the Department
of Animal Science.
Description
Keywords
Insects' attack on livestock, Insects' attack on crops, Food shortages, Beneficial insects, Economic entomologists, Insect abundance, insect adaptability, Application of insecticides, Pest control, Integrated pest management