Exercise 1:
You have read about climatic conditions that increase proliferation and prevalence of weeds, diseases, and pests in general.
Find some information about the important pests of your area.
Write to a farmers association and ask for more information and check your local library or the internet in order to get detailed information about these pests.
You can also plan an excursion to a farm or an interview with a farmer.
Interesting aspects can be:
- What are the most important pests?
- What are “good” and “bad” conditions for their proliferation?
- Which crops are affected?
- What kind of damage do they cause?
- How many of these pests are necessary to create severe damage?
- Which kind of countermeasure (chemical and biological) is used?
Exercise 2: Experiment
Observe in an experiment how crops are affected by different levels of pest infestations:
Collect from fields etc. one species of pests e.g. the potato beetle or locusts.
Plant one or two grown plants (e.g. potatos) in a flower pot and put different numbers of potato beetles on it.
Cover it with a mosquito net to prevent the beetles from escaping.
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