**3. Results**

#### *3.1. Socio-Economic Profile of Farmers*

The surveyed farmers were mostly men (83.2%), and their household had an average of nine people. The number of years of experience in maize production averaged 19.5 years. About 61.2% of farmers were illiterate. They practised agriculture as their main activity (92.6%). Livestock production (e.g., poultry, goat, sheep, cattle, or pigs), food processing, and trade were their secondary activities. About 35% of them belonged to a farmer organization and had contacts with research or extension services. Six-point five percent of farmers had received training in crop pest managemen<sup>t</sup> (Table 2).

#### *3.2. Farmers' Knowledge and Perceptions of S. frugiperda Attacks*

Most farmers (91.8%) recognized the damage of *S. frugiperda* on maize crop. The majority (78.9%) of them were able to identify the pest during its larval stage (Table 3). Farmers (88.6%) observed the activities of *S. frugiperda* in their maize fields (Table 3). They recorded the first attacks of *S. frugiperda* in 2015 and 2016. They perceived *S. frugiperda* as a new pest. Currently, there is no name in local languages to specifically refer to *S. frugiperda*.


**Table 3.** Farmers' knowledge and perceptions of *S. frugiperda.*


**Table 3.** *Cont.*

1 Weeks After Planting (WAP). (*n* = 1237).

For most farmers, maize plants were more vulnerable from the 1st to the 4th week after planting, and attacks were more severe during periods of light rain (Table 3). The majority of farmers saw an increase in the spread of *S. frugiperda* attacks in 2018 compared to the previous year. About 32% of the farmers believed that *S. frugiperda* caused more damage compared to the other maize pests they encountered in their fields (Figure 2). These include Formosan termites (*Coptotermes formosanus*), cob borers (*Mussidia nigrivenella*), maize leaf rollers (*Marasmia trapezalis*), grasshopper (*Zonocerus variegatus*), pink stalk borer (*Sesamia calamistis*), and corn leaf aphid (*Rhopalosiphum maidis*).

**Figure2.**Farmers'perceptions ofdamagefrommaizepests.

Chi-square tests indicate that there was a relationship between farmers' knowledge and perceptions of *S. frugiperda* and their socio-economic characteristics. Farmers' knowledge of the pest was significantly associated with education level (*p* = 0.003), main activity (*p* = 0.006), membership in a farmer organization (*p* = 0.024), and contacts with research or extension services (*p* = 0.001). In addition, their perception of damage was significantly associated with membership in a farmer organization (*p* = 0.001) and contacts with research or extension services (*p* = 0.001) (Table 4).


**Table 4.** Chi-square analysis of the relationships between knowledge of *S. frugiperda*, perception of damage, and socio-economic characteristics of farmers.

DF: Degree of Freedom; χ2: Chi-square coe fficient; *P*: Probability; \*: *p* < 0.05, \*\*: *p* < 0.01, ns: not significant.
