Fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J E Smith), an economically important pest native to tropical and subtropical
America has recently invaded Africa, causing substantial damage to maize and other crops. We evaluated
functionality of a companion cropping system, ‘climate-adapted push-pull’, developed for control of cereal
stemborers in drier agro-ecologies, as an added tool for the management of fall armyworm. The technology
comprises intercropping maize with drought-tolerant greenleaf desmodium, Desmodium intortum (Mill.) Urb.,
and planting Brachiaria cv Mulato II as a border crop around this intercrop. Protection to maize is provided by
semiochemicals that are emitted by the intercrop that repel (push) stemborer moths while those released by the
border crop attract (pull) them. 250 farmers who had adopted the technology in drier areas of Kenya, Uganda
and Tanzania were randomly selected for the study during the long rainy season (March-August) of 2017. Each
farmer had a set of two plots, a climate-adapted push–pull and a maize monocrop. Data were collected in each
plot on the number of fall armyworm larvae on maize, percentage of maize plants damaged by the larvae and
maize grain yields. Similarly, farmers' perceptions of the impact of the technology on the pest were assessed
using a semi-structured questionnaire. Reductions of 82.7% in average number of larvae per plant and 86.7% in
plant damage per plot were observed in climate-adapted push-pull compared to maize monocrop plots.
Similarly, maize grain yields were significantly higher, 2.7 times, in the climate-adapted push-pull plots. Farmers
rated the technology significantly superior in reducing fall armyworm infestation and plant damage rates. These
results demonstrate that the technology is effective in controlling fall armyworm with concomitant maize grain
yield increases, and represent the first documentation of a technology that can be immediately deployed for
management of the pest in East Africa and beyond
