Impact of push-pull technology on the nutritional status of farmers’ children in western Kenya

This study examined the impact of push-pull technology (PPT) on the nutritional status of children aged 1-12 years. Non-push-pull (NPPT) farmers were used as a control group to establish a comparative model for this study. It determined household production, consumption, and surpluses, comparing the PPT adopters to the nonadopters; found out the incomes and food expenditures from farm products; found out the household dietary diversity scores; and finally found the nutritional status of the two household groups. A six faceted household-level metrics was employed. A sample of 216 households that registered 326 children was derived. This study was conducted in western Kenya: Busia, Butere, Siaya, Vihiga, Kisumu, and Migori. In this study 53% were male and 47% female from the households assessed. Households with married couples were 87.5%, 1.9% were single parents, 0.5% were separated and 10.2% were widowed. Averagely, 7.20 members came from PPT households, while 6.99 were from NPPT households. Each household (both PPT and NPPT) had an average number of three children. The study further showed that 88 households of PPT had their income sources from farm products sales as NPPT had 67 households on the same. Income was averagely 126.29US$for PPT and 91US$ for NPPT. Push-pull households had 1303 Kgs of farm production while NPPT had 578 Kgs per year. The scale of agriculture to nutrition benefits recorded 8.7/10 for PPT and 7.14/10 for NPPT. Finally, PPT registered 12% of ≥+2SD, 84% of between -2 and > +2SD and 4% of ≤ -2SD for children under five years and 3% of ≥+2SD, 89% of between -2 and > +2SD and 8% of ≤ -2SD for children aged between 6 to 12 years. Non Push-pull households controversially registered 3% of ≥+2SD, 61% of between -2 and > +2SD and 36% of ≤ -2SD for children less than five years and 3% of ≥+2SD, 53% of between -2 and > +2SD and 44% of ≤ 2SD for children aged between 6 to 12 years. In conclusion, PPT is proven as an agricultural intervention that has enhanced nutritional improvement.Keywords: Push-pull Technology (PPT), Non Push-pull Technology (NPPT), nutrition, dietary diversity, food security, Body Mass Index (BMI), agricultur

Gender appropriateness of field days in knowledge generation and adoption of push-pull technology in eastern Africa

Adoption studies have identified gender as one of the factors that determine technology uptake and this has been linked to women’s access to farming information or lack of it. Technology scaling up systems should utilise pathways that are compatible with the needs of rural women, who have to juggle farming with other household chores. Unfortunately, there has been limited effort to evaluate the suitability of the information pathways used to specific gender. The current study evaluates the appropriateness of field days with respect to gender of the participants. Data were collected from selected farmers who attended field days in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania in 2014. A total of 2 615 participants were interviewed out of 6 221 who attended field days. Descriptive analysis and ordered probit and logit models were used for analysis. The majority of the participants in Kenya and Tanzania were women (51.3% and 62.6%, respectively), whereas in Uganda the majority of participants were men (57.4%). Most participants were middle aged (42 years for women and 45 years for men). The majority of the women (54.1%) had primary level education, with only 29.1% having secondary education, whereas 41% and 40.1% of men had attained primary and secondary education, respectively. The results from the econometric models shows that gender, age, education, being push-pull farmers, perceptions on Striga severity were the main significant determinants of knowledge for the ordered probit. Conversely, gender of the participant, perception on stemborers and Striga weed severity and having mobile phones were the significant determinants of willingness to adopt. The two models were significant at 1% (p < 0.001). The significance of the gender variable in the two models shows that women farmers understood more about push-pull (coefficient of ordered probit = −0.112) when trained during field days. Furthermore, the willingness to adopt push-pull after the training was much higher for women (coefficient of logit = −0.367) compared with men. The findings demonstrate that field days can be more appropriate for training farmers, especially women who are often disadvantaged in information access, as a result of their socio-economic circumstances

Ecological management of cereal stemborers in African smallholder agriculture through behavioural manipulation

1. Africa faces serious challenges in feeding its rapidly growing human population owing to the poor productivity of maize and sorghum, the most important staple crops formillions of smallholder farmers in the continent,with yields being among the lowest in the world. 2. A complex of lepidopterous stemborers attack cereals in Africa. However, their effective control is difficult, largely as a result of the cryptic and nocturnal habits of moths, and protection provided by host stem for immature pest stages.Moreover, current control measures are uneconomical and impractical for resource-poor farmers. 3. An ecological approach, based on companion planting, known as ‘push–pull’, provides effective management of these pests, and involves combined use of inter- and trap cropping systems where stemborers are attracted and trapped on trap plants with added economic value (‘pull’), and are driven away from the cereal crop by antagonistic intercrops (‘push’). 4. Novel defence strategies inducible by stemborer oviposition have recently been discovered, leading to the attraction of egg and larval parasitoids, in locally adapted maize lines but not in elite hybrids. We also established that landscape complexity did not improve the ecosystem service of biological control, but rather provided a disservice by acting as a ‘source’ of stemborer pests colonising the crop. 5. Here we review and provide new data on the direct and indirect effects of the push–pull approach on stemborers and their natural enemies, including the mechanisms involved, and highlight opportunities for exploiting intrinsic plant defences and natural ecosystem services in pest management in smallholder farming systems in Africa

Developing management strategies for Napier stunt disease

A presentation prepared by Zeyaur R. Khan and Charles A.O. Midega to the ASARECA/ILRI Workshop on Mitigating the Impact of Napier Grass Smut and Stunt Diseases, Addis Ababa, June 2-3, 2010

Potential uptake determinants of climate-smart push-pull technology in drier agro-ecological zones of eastern Africa

The adaptation of push-pull technology to the drier ecological zones is of critical importance for its sustainability in view of the effects of global climate change. While intensified dissemination of the climate-smart technology would ensure its maximum adoption, knowledge of its potential adoption is necessary before dissemination resources are commitment. Potential adoption of a technology is however based on a wide range of farm, farmer, institutional and socioeconomic characteristics. This study was interested on these determinants of potential adoption of the climate-smart push-pull ex ante. The study adopted the multinomial logit technique to evaluate potential adoption determinants, and the findings were consistent with expectations based on theoretical hypothesis with gender, striga rating, push-pull awareness, input market access and country dummy variables being the significant predictors of the potential adoption. These findings are critical if effective targeting of the dissemination messages is to be accomplished

Impact assessment of push-pull technology on incomes, productivity and poverty among smallholder households in Eastern Uganda

The paper evaluates the impact of adoption of push-pull technology (PPT) on household welfare in terms of productivity, incomes and poverty status measured through per capita food consumption in eastern Uganda. Cross sectional survey data was collected from 560 households in four districts in the region: Busia, Tororo, Bugiri and Pallisa, in November and December 2014. Tobit model was used to determine the intensity of adoption of the technology whereas generalized propensity scores (GPS) was applied to estimate the dose-response function (DRF) relating intensity of adoption and household welfare. Results revealed that with increased intensity of PPT adoption, probability of being poor declines through increased yield, incomes, and per capita food consumption. With an increase in the area allocated to PPT from 0.025 to 1 acre, average maize yield increases from 27 kgs to 1,400 kgs, average household income increases from 135 USD (UGX 370,000) to 273 USD (UGX 750,000) and per capita food consumption increases from 15 USD (UGX 40,000) to 27 USD (UGX 75,000). The average probability of being poor declines from 48% to 28%: This implies that increased investment on PPT dissemination and expansion is essential for poverty reduction among smallholder farmers

Gender specific perceptions and adoption of the climate-smart push–pull technology in eastern Africa

AbstractThe performance of the agricultural sector in many developing countries has been rated as below average, in particular the staple cereal crops whose productivity is limited by both biotic and abiotic factors. Furthermore, underperformance by the agricultural sector has in part been attributed to the inability of women to access resources, yet they represent a crucial resource in agriculture and the rural economy through their roles as farmers and entrepreneurs. These challenges can be overcome by understanding gender roles and perceptions, and aligning innovations to fit the preferences of specific gender. This study evaluated gender specific perceptions and the extent of adoption of a climate-smart push–pull technology for controlling stemborers, African witch weed (Striga spp.), and improving soil fertility in drier agro-ecological zones where these constraints are quickly spreading. The findings show that slightly higher percentage of women (98.6%) perceived the technology as effective compared to men (96.7%). Women also highly rated the beneficial attributes of the technology such as increased cereal production (97.3% of the women vs 94.6% of men), decline in Striga spp. weed (97.2% women vs 92.4% of men), increase in soil fertility (95.9% of women vs 90% of men), increase in fodder production (94.1% of women vs 91.3% of men) and increase in cereal and fodder production even with drought (82.3% of women vs 66.5% of men). The findings show that, women who are the most vulnerable of the smallholder farmers, are bound to benefit from the technology, mostly because its attributes favors their (women) preferences

Napier stunt disease is transmitted by a leafhopper vector Maiestas (=Recilia) banda in Western Kenya

A presentation to the ASARECA/ILRI Workshop on Mitigating the Impact of Napier Grass Smut and Stunt Diseases, Addis Ababa, June 2-3, 2010

Gender appropriateness of field days in knowledge generation and adoption of push-pull technology in eastern Africa

Women are taking over the Agriculture sector in sub-Saharan Africa and policies that enhance their empowerment in farming would have positive gains in enhancing food security and transforming lives. Adoption studies have identified gender as one of the factors that determine technology uptake, and this has been linked to women’s access to farming information or lack of it. Technology scaling up systems should utilize pathways that are compatible with the needs of rural women who have to juggle farming with other household chores. Unfortunately, there has been limited effort to evaluate the suitability of the information pathways used to specific gender. This study evaluates the appropriateness of field days with respect to gender of the participants. A total of 2,615 participants were interviewed out of 6,221 who attended field days in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The determinants of level knowledge level gained and willingness to adopt was evaluated using an ordered probit and logit model. Our findings shows that majority of the participants were women (51.3%), middle aged (40-45 years) and with primary level education (54.1% women). The model results shows that women farmers understood more about push-pull (coefficient of ordered probit = -0.112) and were more willing to adopt push-pull (coefficient of logit = -0.367). Age, education, being a push-pull farmer, perception of Striga severity and having a mobile phone were also significant. Our findings demonstrate that field days are appropriate for training farmers especially women who are often disadvantaged in information access

Chemical cues modulating electrophysiological and behavioural responses in the parasitic wasp Cotesia sesamiae

A better understanding of the chemical cues employed by parasitoids to locate their herbivore hosts will contribute towards effective exploitation of parasitoids as biological control agents against damaging crop pests. The current study was conducted to establish key bioactive compounds mediating behavioural response in the parasitic wasp Cotesia sesamiae (Cameron, 1906) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) by employing electrophysiological techniques and behavioural studies. Electroantennogram (EAG) recording with synthetic equivalents of herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs) using C. sesamiae confirmed that 13 compounds elicited electrophysiological activity. In an olfactometer bioassay, only (E)-4,8-dimethyl-1,3,7-nonatriene, (E)-β-farnesene, and (E,E)-4,8,-trimethyl-1,3,7-tridecatetraene elicited behavioural responses from the parasitoid when tested individually at a natural dose, while (R)-linalool and (E)-caryophyllene were attractive at the highest test dose. Other EAG-active HIPVs were not attractive either at lower or higher concentrations, suggesting their role as blend components rather than functioning as attractants by themselves. In contrast, nine-component synthetic HIPV blends formulated in the same ratio and concentration as in a natural sample was as attractive as the original headspace sample. By providing further insights into maize–stemborer–parasitoid tritrophic interactions, results from this study will help in selecting crop cultivars emitting appropriate HIPVs to attract natural enemies and perhaps repel damaging crop pests.</jats:p