Abstract

A survey was conducted among 218 farmers in 8 of the 10 districts of Lesotho. Data collection was conducted using a structured questionnaire uploaded on KOBO data collection software and it was also used for data analysis of descriptive statistics. Microsoft Excel was used to construct tables and chats while Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to determine the relationship between selected dependent variables. The results showed that majority of farmers used their own living houses to store their grains (64.2%) and many farmers used non-hermetic bagging (78.6%) for packaging. Rodents (84.4%) and weevils (71.9%) were found to be major storage pests of grains in storage. For management of rodents, farmers mainly used cats (56%), while for weevils they used chemical fumigant, phostoxin (48%), cultural methods (37%), and indigenous methods (14%). There was no significant relationship between the educational background of farmers and their choice of the control of weevils and rodents at p=0.336 and p=0.996, respectively. There is a need to investigate proper storage methods and pest control methods that smallholder farmers can use to address postharvest losses.

Key words: Storage structures, weevils, rodents, postharvest losses.