Farmers' perception on the importance of variegated grasshopper (Zonocerus variegatus (L.)) in the agricultural production systems of the humid forest zone of Southern Cameroon

Table 1 Relative importance (%) of the main insect pests on annual and perennial crops in the humid forest zone of Southern – Cameroon.

All
Crops	AECD-Blocks	Termites	Borers	Caterpillars (Without Borers)	Aphids	Mirids	Scales Insects	Variegated grasshopper	Bugs (Without Mirids)	p-value
Annual crops	Yaounde	9	16	9	10	6	19	16	14	<0.001
	Mbalmayo	2	21	10	9	7	22	16	13	<0.0001
	Ebolowa	4	22	12	13	5	17	14	15	<0.0001
	p-value	<0.05	NS	NS	NS	NS	NS	NS	NS
	Mean	5	20	10	11	6	20	15	14	<0.0001
Young Perennial Crops	Yaoundé	14	14	12	11	21	18	7	5	<0.01
	Mbalmayo	1	19	19	10	28	13	8	2	<0.0001
	Ebolowa	3	22	14	14	28	5	11	4	<0.0001
	p-value	<0.001	NS	NS	NS	NS	<0.05	NS	NS
	Mean	6	18	15	11	25	12	9	4	<0.0001
Female
Annual crops	Yaounde	11	16	9	13	9	19	12	14	NS
	Mbalmayo	3	21	10	12	9	22	12	13	0.0386
	Ebolowa	5	22	11	14	3	17	14	16	0.0236
	p-value	NS	NS	NS	NS	NS	NS	NS	NS
	Mean	6	19	10	13	7	19	12	14	<0.0001
Young Perennial Crops	Yaoundé	14	15	7	14	18	23	3	11	NS
	Mbalmayo	2	21	19	10	29	14	2	5	0.0005
	Ebolowa	4	21	15	15	22	7	13	4	NS
	p-value	NS	NS	NS	NS	NS	NS	NS	NS
	Mean	7	19	14	13	23	15	6	6	<0.0001
Male
Annual crops	Yaounde	7	17	10	8	3	20	21	15	0.0072
	Mbalmayo	2	21	10	7	6	23	20	13	0.0003
	Ebolowa	3	23	13	12	7	17	14	14	0.0002
	p-value	NS	NS	NS	NS	NS	NS	NS	NS
	Mean	4	20	11	9	5	20	18	14	<0.0001
Young Perennial Crops	Yaoundé	14	13	16	8	24	13	11	3	0.0404
	Mbalmayo	0	18	19	10	27	13	12	2	0.0007
	Ebolowa	3	24	13	12	33	2	10	4	0.0006
	p-value	0.008	NS	NS	NS	NS	NS	NS	NS
	Mean	6	18	16	10	28	9	11	3	<0.0001

The values are averages of the scores for 10 groups (5 male and 5 female groups) of farmers interviewed per block; p-value is the significance levels of a non parametric test of Kruskal-Wallis; NS = no significant (p > 0.05). AECD-Blocks = Agro-Ecological, Cultural and Demographic Blocks.

ISSN: 1746-4269