Abstract

Social forestry involves the participation of the local people in the management and protection of forests and afforestation with the purpose of fostering environmental, social and rural development. The species commonly planted belong to the genera Acacia, Albizia, Artocorpus, Azadirachta, Casuarina, Celtis,Eucalyptus, Moringa, Mangifera, and Prosopis. This paper studied the current status of forest pests, by reviewing the main problems faced by these tree species commonly planted and appropriate measures to manage these pests. For instance seed pests such as Dichocrosis punctiferalis and Sitophilus spp bore fruits in the standing trees and nursery pests that cause serious damages to roots are Holotrochia consanguinea and Apogonia uniformis. Pests problem in plantations are mainly defoliators, sap suckers and xylophagous pests. Management practices to prevent these pests include behavioural and genetical methods of control, plant varietal resistance, cultural methods or ecological management, and biological control. However, access to improved breed of tree species would have a long way to reducing the incidence of pests attack in social forestry.

Key words: Social forestry, insect pests problems management.