Evaluation of post-harvest maize treatment, phyto-insecticide use on maize varieties in mezam division

Maize is the most widely cultivated staple food crop in Sub-Saharan Africa in general and Cameroon in particular with agriculture as its back bone. Despite this, a great portion of the cultivated and harvested Maize is lost during post-harvest drying and storage treatment. These loses could be attributed to the poor state of the farmers, season of cultivation or type if insecticide used. The objective of this study was to evaluate post-harvest maize treatment, phyto-insecticide use on maize varieties in Mezam Division. A simple random sample was used. It involved 640 households randomly selected; 80 from each sampling area. Eight sampling areas were selected from the seven Sub-Divisions that make up the Mezam Division. 640 semi-structured questionnaires were administered in 8 sampling areas to determine the dominant varieties of maize cultivated, season of cultivation, insecticide use and the fate of attacked maize. The results showed that, 57% of the farmers prefer both yellow and white maize varieties though 45% preferred more yellow, maize farming is predominant in the rainy season (58%). Most farmers had preference for chemical synthetic pesticides; most of which have been banned in Cameroon. Over 17 different phyto-pesticides were in common use in Mezam Division. There was serious positive intervention of both the state and its partners in maize cultivation in Mezam. The study showed that there was the need for more positive State intervention, provision of assistance to farmers and sensitization on the importance of phyto-insecticides and the dangers of chemical synthetic insecticide abuse. International Journal of Agronomy and Agricultural Research - IJAAR is an open-access scholarly research journal, published by International Network for Natural Sciences. IJAAR publishes original scientific research articles in the field of Agronomy and Agricultural Sciences. IJAAR published 2 Volume and 12 issue per the calendar year.Int. J. Agron. Agri. Res. 10(3), 9-17, March 2017