It is a well documented fact that the seeds of leguminous crops grown in the tropics and used by man as food for himself and his animals, suffer considerable losses from insect damage both before and after harvest (Singh et al.). What is perhaps not realised is that tree species of the Leguminosae and members of some other families as well are also subject to seed damage by insects, levels of infestation in some instances being higher than in man's mono-cultural cropping system.
The world's arid areas are increasing at an alarming rate and the need to encourage the regeneration of trees in the arid and semi-arid zones is a first priority. To achieve this, all factors concerned with the ecology of the trees must be known and understood, not least the bionomics of the insects which feed upon the pods and seeds.
This document sets out to review the current knowledge concerning these insect species and to give guidelines for further investigation. It is hoped this will lead to effective means of control and the successful planting and regeneration of the tree species considered in the first phase report of the FAO/IBGR project.
