In Nigeria, the cola species of economic importance are Cola acuminata and Cola nitida (Quarco, 1973; Daramola, 1983). Oluokun and Olalokun (1999), reported that two million metric tonnes of kolanut produced annually in Nigeria represents 70% of world production. Therefore, Nigeria is the major producer of kola nuts (Jacob,  1973;  Asogwa  et  al.,  2006)  and a   significant proportion of Nigerian population derived their means of livelihood from kola farming, trading and industrial utilization. Kola nut is closely associated with traditions and culture of many tribes in Nigeria (Daramola, 1978; Opeke, 1987). C. acuminata is commonly used in social, religious, ritual and ceremonial engagements in the Southern and Middle-belt parts of Nigeria.  C. nitida  “kola commerce” is increasing in demand for its usage in pharmaceutical industries and for production of soft drinks, wines and candles (Ogutuga, 1975). Its uses have inevitably created a high demand in excess of its production (Oladokun, 1985).

Daramola (1973, 1978), reported that the kola weevils, Balanogastris kolae Desbr and Sophrorhinus spp are the most destructive pest of kola nut in West Africa. They are “field-to-store” pests as their infestation is initiated in the field and persists in storage (Daramola and Ivbijaro, 1975). Percentage infestation ranges from 30 to 100% depending on the sanitary condition on the farm and the time of harvest (Daramola, 1973); this accounts for a loss of about 60% of the produce (Quarco, 1973). Eggs are laid on the nuts or in other parts of the fruit. The larvae feed inside the nut leaving tunnels filled with frass. Circular holes are made in the nuts by emerging adults thereby exposing the kola nuts to secondary invasion by micro-organisms, especially fungi (Daramola, 1983; Odebode, 1990). The average period from oviposition to the emergence of the adults of B. kolae is 29 and 31 days for Sorphrorhirus spp. Breeding was noted to continue throughout the year on leftover nuts and nuts produced between the main harvest season (Daramola, 1974; NRI, 1996). These weevils are reported to attack wounded or damaged fruits.

 

Nut quality

The quality of the kola nuts is adversely affected by the presence of weevils. Adult weevils feed on the nuts. The damages caused destroy the nuts thereby lowering its market value (NRI, 1996]. The value of kola nuts is also determined by the quality such as size, flavor, keeping quality and colour. White colour nuts are regarded as superior to pink and purple nuts in flavor. However, flavor and keeping quality are determined by the efficiency of curing and storage.

 

Control

Kola weevils are controlled chemically by fumigation of the nuts with phostoxin (Gerald, 1967), dipping of weevil-infested nuts in concentrate of 0.03% gamma BHC emulsion (Ivbijaro, 1977) and irradiation of kola nuts using gamma radiation generated from cobalt 60 (Daramola, 1973; 1978). Control of kola weevils in stored produce with the aid of a fumigant (methyl bromide) was proposed by Alberta and Mallamaire (1955) (Table 1). Re-infestation may be prevented by spraying of the storage space with DDT or BHC.

 

 

 

 

Idowu and Ojelade (1994, 1995) observed that minimal level of weevil damage was recorded on kola nuts which were  obtained  from  timely   harvested   pods   (35.42%)  when compared with the nuts obtained from pods whose harvest were delayed (58.25 to 83.3%). Destruction and proper disposal of all debris from the nuts and the replacement of earthen floors at kola nut deposits with cemented ones (Daramola and Taylor, 1975).

During the first 4 weeks of preservation, the nuts should be carefully and repeatedly examined for weevil infestation. All infested nuts should be removed and destroyed. When nuts are free from weevils, it is necessary to examine them only once a month, and at each examination, the leaves used for lining the baskets should be replaced with fresh materials.

Ndubuaku (2000) reported that the kola weevil exhibit five geotaxis, therefore farmers should concentrate on the physical removal of adult weevils from the bottom of the baskets and that the crevices at the bottom of the baskets should be thoroughly inspected during regular replacement of banana leaves to ensure that the weevils hiding at the bottom of the baskets were not overlooked.

Though, cultural method is laborious and not very effective; it is recommended for the control of kola weevils. This is because kola nuts do not require further processing after skinning and curing before consumption. However, kola nut traders, who are mostly women are pre-disposed to the use of chemicals because of its knock down effects despite the potential hazards posed by pesticides to man and his environment; hence this informed timely search for alternative control measures against the kola weevil (Anikwe and Ojelade, 2005).

Concerted efforts should be made to monitor, regulate and synchronize the various techniques adopted by the traders in controlling weevil infestation. Introduce sanity to the control methods adopted by the traders.

 

Objectives of the study

The general objective of the study was to ascertain the pests management practices by kola traders in the study areas. The specific objectives are to:

i. Ascertain the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents,

ii. Examine the insect pests affecting kola in the study areas,

iii. Determine methods used by the kola traders to control pests in the study areas.

 

The hypotheses of the study

HO₁: There is no significant relationship between source of information and pests management practices by kola traders in the study areas.

Two local government areas were purposely selected due to the facts that they are known for kola trading. The two local government areas selected were Idanre/Ifedore and Akoko South West LGAs in Ondo State. Forty kola traders were selected in each of the local government area to make a total of one hundred and sixty kola traders for the study.

A total of 160 sampled kola traders were interviewed individually in two Local Government Areas (Idanre Ifedore and Akoko South West) in Ondo State. In the LGAs, four villages (Owena, Ijare, Supare and Oka Akoko) were randomly selected while 40 farmers were sampled from each village giving a total of 160 farmers. Data collected include, socio-economic characteristics, farmers’ pest control methods, size and land ownership. Frequencies, percentages, and Chi-square (X²) were used for presentation and analysis of the data collected. 

 

 

 

 

Table 2 showed that 37.5% of the respondents were between the age group 25 and 45 years, closely followed by (34.4%) of respondents who were between the group of 46 and 66 years; while, few (25.0%) were between the group of 67 and 87 years. It could be seen that middle aged and old traders are involved in the kola nut trading in the area. It involves all stakeholders both strong and feeble because this part of production is invariably less tedious and challenging/tasking. The study reveals that majority of the respondents were in the age range of 25 to 66 years which indicates that they are still active in kola trading.

The distribution based on gender classification revealed that 12.5% were males while 87.5% were females. The dominance of the females over the male maybe attributed to the fact that females are involved in off-farm activities such as buying and selling of farm produce, while their males counterparts were involved in highly energy sapping/demanding part of production restricted to on-farm activities. The implication here is that there would be more hands to do less tedious job but much painstakingly operations in kola production such as collection, de-husking, curing and protection. This is in consonance with Adamu et al. (2006), who stated that majority of rural women engaged in off-farm activities such as packing of farm produce, buying and selling of farm produce, storage of crops among others.

The table also showed that 50% of the respondents were married, closely by 25% widow; while 15.6 were divorcee, only 9.4% were single, which connotes that marriage is highly cherished by the people in the study area and could lead to increase in household size. The table also revealed that 25.0% did not attend school, while 50.0% of the respondents had primary school leaving certificate while others attended one form of education or the other. This distribution did favour pests management practices since half of the respondents were literate. This is in consonance with Okunola (2006) who stated that education influences various management practices among farmers. Education is a major factor that could influence  farmers  practices  and they could easily adopt technologies transferred to them which increase their income for carrying out insect pest control. The table also revealed that 64.6% of the respondents took farming as their secondary occupation while 20.0% took artisan and other engagements as their secondary occupation. The table also revealed that 76.5% of the respondents took kola trading as their primary occupation while 23.5%  took farming, artisan and civil servant as their secondary occupation. This implies kola trading is a major means of livelihood for the traders.

 

 

 

 

Table 3 showed the respondents’ distribution based on insect pest management, it was revealed that for the curing or preservation of kola nuts, 50% of the respondents used phostoxin tablets, while 25% used gammalin 20, while 12.5% used Aldrex 40 while the remaining 12.5% used other materials. This however reflects the effectiveness of phostoxin tablet by the 50% of the respondents. 25% of the respondents used gammalin 20 despite the snag/inadequacy while 12.5% consider the use of both phostoxin tablet and gammalin 20 as their choice insecticide. This implies that various chemical insecticides were used for curing and preservation of kola nuts in the store and most traders in the study area rarely use other phytosanitary methods.

 

 

 

Table 4 showed that 50.0% used fumigant in the preservation of kola nuts while 25.0% used contact source as control method, while the remaining 25.0% used stomach method of control. The implication   is   that,   fumigants   are   more convenient for the traders in preserving kola nuts which however resorted to insect free kola nuts. 80.0% of respondents applied the insecticides twice for the control of the insect pests, while  20.0%  each  was  recorded  by respondents who applied the insecticide for once or thrice. This indicated that for long preservation, phostoxin should be applied at least twice using a tablet cut into different  fractions.  This result however confirms the effectiveness of phostoxin tablet in curing/preservation of kola nuts. Some traders used gammalin 20 despite the snag/inadequacy associated with the use of the chemical insecticide. Though some traders also consider the use of both phostoxin tablet and gammalin 20 as their choice insecticide.

 

 

 

 

Table 5 showed that majority of the respondents (50.0%) bought insecticides from the hawkers, while 37.5% patronised the retail shop, only 6.3% purchased from chemical dealer, while 6.3% of the respondents did not buy from any of the source (Table 6). This implies that traders did not follow proper channel for the right insecticide to use. Traders make do with what is available irrespective of the authencity and originality. The main source of information on chemical used is traced to agrochemical retailers and interactions among the kola traders which is amounted to 91.6% of the respondents. Some kola traders obtained information from their parents. There was however the likelihood that knowledge might be distorted if received from other sources except from experienced extension agents (Tijani, 2006) and associated government agencies. Thus, information source on the status of chemical was traced to fellow kola traders and agrochemical sellers in the vicinity.

 

 

 

 

Fifty percent of the respondents recorded between 25 to 50 insect damage level, while 25% respondents experienced between 50 to 75 insect damage level (Table 7). This level of damage is corresponding to the degree of infestation characterised the kola nuts attacked by the various pests in the store. Majority of the traders acknowledge the presence of the kola weevils in the stored kola nuts. Traders  also  notice  some  other  pests that they cannot be identified. While few claimed ignorance of pests. It was revealed that kola weevils were the common storage pests of kola nuts except few unidentified insects as being complained by the respondents.

 

 

 

 

From Table 8, it was shown that most respondents (75%) acknowledged the effectiveness of phostoxin over other chemical preservatives. This result however confirms the effectiveness of phostoxin tablet in curing/preservation of kola nuts. Some traders used gammalin 20 despite the snag/inadequacy associated with the use of the chemical insecticide.

 

 

 

 

The results in Table 9 showed that only 21.9% of the respondents are aware of approved insecticide, while majority of the respondents (78.1%) claimed ignorance of the policy. Also, majority of the respondents (93.7) is not aware of banned insecticide either, whereas only 6.3 of the respondents claimed to have knowledge of banned insecticide. However, the majority of the respondents (84.4%) were not aware of health hazard inherent in banned insecticide, while just 15.6% respondents awared of the risk associated with the over-dependence on insecticide as a means of control.

 

 

 

 

Table 10 showed the significant relationship between respondents source of information and management practices of pests in the study areas. The result revealed that sex and awareness of approved and banned insecticide has no significant relationship with insect characteristics and insect pest control, while age, educational status, types of chemical and insect damage have significant relationship. However, sources of chemical and types of insects are of significant relationship  with  insect  pest  control.  This  implies   that frequency of information received has a strong effect on the pests and management practices.

The study ascertained the pests management practices carried out by the traders in Ondo State. Forty kola traders were randomly selected from two villages each in the two local government areas of the State. The study revealed that majority of the traders were between 25 and 66 years of age with kola nut preservation (insect pest control) experience. The study also revealed that kola weevils (Balanogastris kolae and Sorphrorhinus spp.) are the major pests of the kola in the study area.

The study concludes that pests management practices were rife in the study area. However, only unguarded/unscreened method of chemical control tinged/combined with cultural method control were employed in curing and preservation of kola nuts.

Finally, it was revealed that significant association exists between information sources and insect pests management in the study area. 

The authors have not declared any conflict of interests.