Other Benefits from Push-Pull Pest Control

At the beginning of this year, I posted an article about Push-Pull Pest Control, where to protect a maize crop, a farmer plants other crops, particularly to prevent damage from stem borers,  the other crops being silverleaf desmodium (the push) and napier and Sudan grass (the pull).

I have since been reading accounts of Kenyan farmers having adopted this method to control stem borer moths and striga weed, reporting that their crop yield for 1/4 acre plot has increased up to six-fold.

But, there is a side-effect. The desmodium is good cattle fodder and these farmers find that they can acquire or increase their head of livestock.

I am happy to see that push-pull technology is slowly being adopted in areas of Kenya (particularly Western Province and Nyanza) that are afflicted with these pests, but it needs to be promoted more vigorously so that all farmers in Kenya, or Africa in general can use this very effective method of pest control.

Imagine if all maize farmers could increase their yield by a factor of six!

Push-Pull Technology Transforms Small Farms in Kenya

Here is another site, produced by icipe
Push-Pull