Management Approaches:
Host Plants

Sugar cane

Sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum) differs from the other cereals summarized here, because it is grown virtually as a cash crop, rather than as a subsistance crop for local consumption.  In Africa, sugar cane is an exotic crop, originating in Asia.  The first recorded cultivation of sugar cane in sub-Saharan Africa is in the Cape Verde Islands in the early 15th century.

Sugar-cane plantations producing relatively large quantities are found in the following sub-Saharan African countries: Kenya, Sudan, Swaziland and Zimbabwe, Mauritius is also an important producer of sugar cane.  South Africa is by far the greatest producer of cane sugar in the continent (FAO, 1993).

The most important stem borer attacking sugar cane is the pyralid E. saccharina.  Sesamia calamistis (Noctuidae) is frequently found infesting sugar cane but is rarely of any economic importance.  Busseola fusca can also be found occasionally in sugar cane, but never in pest numbers.

References: Artschwager and Brandes (1958); Blackburn (1984).