In Zambia, termites have been recognized as pests of agricultural crops, plantation trees, structural timber, manufactured wooden goods as well as paper. This makes their control imperative. In line with the concept of pest management, appropriate control measures of termites must take into account their taxonomy, biology and ecology, as well the assessment of crop damage and yield losses. This paper discusses some of the problems inherent in developing such a scheme in Zambia and provides alternative solutions.

Assessment of damage to apparently good quality palm kernels by test insect species under laboratory conditions revealed that all the cultures had other pest species due to hidden infestation. The total damage caused by the insects to palm kernels in the experimental jars ranged from 17.5 to 30.9% at the end of a 1-yr storage period. With the exception of test species, Oryzaephilus mercator (Fauv.) and Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) which were predominant in cultures in which they were formally introduced, the other cultures were found to be dominated by O. mercator, T. castaneum, Lasioderma serricorne (F.) and Cryptolestes ferrugineus (Steph.). Thus the damage reported above was principally due to these four species. Symptoms of damage to palm kernels by O. mercator; T. castaneum and L. serricorne have been given for the first time and the pest status of the beetle pests associated with stored palm kernel assessed relative to damage caused.

Damage caused by the black bean aphid, Aphis fabae Scopoli, on the common bean, Phaseolus vulgaris L., was severest when the aphids were transferred onto bean plants during the preflowering stage. There were significant reductions in the average length of the central shoot, production of flowers, pods and seeds per plant. Seed weight per plant was also significantly reduced when aphid infestation occurred during the preflowering stage. Smaller, but significant reductions to the length of the central shoot, quantity of pods and weight of seeds produced per plant caused by A. fabae were also recorded when the aphids were transferred onto plants at anthesis. When aphid infestation occurred during the grain filling stage the damage caused was minimal and insignificant. The results obtained indicated that the preflowering stage was the vulnerable stage of bean development during which aphid attack is most harmful and, if unchecked, could lead to drastic yield losses.