............................................................................................................................................................ III EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .......................................................................................................................................... IV CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................. 1 PESTS AS A THREAT TO SUBSISTENCE FARMING ..................................................................................................................... 2 CHEMICAL METHODS OF CONTROL .................................................................................................................................... 3 BIOLOGICAL METHODS OF CONTROL .................................................................................................................................. 4 CULTURAL METHODS OF CONTROL .................................................................................................................................... 4 STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS ............................................................................................................................................... 5 CHAPTER 2: AGRICULTURE IN THE SOLOMON ISLANDS ......................................................................................... 7 STUDY AREA: WESTERN PROVINCE OF SOLOMON ISLANDS ..................................................................................................... 8 STAPLE CROPS.............................................................................................................................................................. 10 SWEET POTATO GREEN LEAF FOLDER (PSARA HIPPONALIS) ................................................................................................... 11 Life Cycle of the Sweet potato leaf folder ........................................................................................................... 12 Symptoms ........................................................................................................................................................... 13 CHAPTER 3: LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................................................................................... 14 SWEET POTATO (IPOMOEA BATATAS) ............................................................................................................................... 14 Pest controls for sweet potato ............................................................................................................................ 15 INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT ................................................................................................................................... 17 Sanitation ............................................................................................................................................................ 18 Crop Rotation ...................................................................................................................................................... 18 Mulching ............................................................................................................................................................. 19 MODELING APPROACHES ............................................................................................................................................... 20 Empirical Approach ............................................................................................................................................. 20 Mechanistic Approach ........................................................................................................................................ 21 CHAPTER 4: METHODS & RESULTS ....................................................................................................................... 24 DATA COLLECTION ........................................................................................................................................................ 24 METHODS ................................................................................................................................................................... 25 Dependent variable ............................................................................................................................................. 25 Policy variables of interest .................................................................................................................................. 26 Controls ............................................................................................................................................................... 27 RESULTS ..................................................................................................................................................................... 28 Descriptive Results .............................................................................................................................................. 28 Regression Results .............................................................................................................................................. 32 Policy Variables ................................................................................................................................................... 33 Controls ............................................................................................................................................................... 34 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ......................................................................................... 39 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................................................................... 42