A platform technology for improving livelihoods of resource poor farmers in sub-Saharan Africa


Africa faces increasingly serious problems in its ability to feed its rapidly growing population, resulting in high hunger and poverty incidences. Growth in agricultural productivity is essential to reduce hunger and poverty and ensure food security. Agricultural growth can be achieved by reducing incidence of the major constraints to productivity such as pests, weeds and degraded soils. These constraints are responsible for the continent’s crop productivity being the lowest in the world (around 1t/ha compared with 2.4t/ha in South Asia, 3.2t/ha in Latin America and 4.5t/ha in East Asia and Pacific), and cause high levels of hunger, malnutrition and poverty. More.....

Stemborers, parasitic striga weeds and poor soil fertility are the three main constraints to efficient production of cereals in SSA. Losses caused by stemborers can reach as high as 80% in some areas and an average of about 15-40% in others. Losses attributed to striga weeds on the other hand range between 30 and 100% in most areas, and are often exacerbated by the low soil fertility prevalent in the region. The soils are highly degraded due to continuous cropping with limited or no external inputs to improve soil fertility. When the two pests occur together, farmers often lose their entire crop. Crop losses caused by stemborers and striga weeds amount to about US $ 7 billion annually, affecting mostly the resource poor subsistence farmers. More.....

A conservation agricultural approach known as `Push-Pull' technology has been developed for integrated management of stemborers, striga weed and soil fertility. Push-Pull was developed by scientists at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe), in Kenya and Rothamsted Research, in the United Kingdom, in collaboration with other national partners. The technology is appropriate and economical to the resource-poor smallholder farmers in the region as it is based on locally available plants, not expensive external inputs, and fits well with traditional mixed cropping systems in Africa. To date it has been adopted by over 350,298 smallholder farmers in Africa where maize yields have increased from about 1 t/ha to 3.5 t/ha, achieved with minimal inputs. More.....

News and Updates

icipe Announces Appointment of New Program Leader
icipe has appointed Dr Amanuel Tamiru as Senior Scientist, Push-Pull Programme. Dr Tamiru will assume leadership of the Push-Pull programme, from 1st January 2024. He conducts cutting-edge research in plant signaling and insect-plant interactions, employing the latest behavioural and chemical ecology techniques. He has discovered, for the first time, that insect-egg deposition induces the production of bioactive volatiles attractive to parasitic wasps in some maize cultivars and elucidated underpinning molecular mechanisms. His other key discoveries include elucidating the underpinning chemical ecology mechanisms of the ‘Push-Pull’ cropping system... More..

icipe in collaboration with Homabay County Government.
` The icipe meeting with Homabay county government is a crucial step towards community level integration push-pull technology (PPT) for achieving food security for farmers. Through this collaboration, we aim to (1) demonstrate and implement landscape level model Push Pull Technology (PPT) adoption (2) conduct participatory action research on landscape level integration of PPT using key production constraints (striga, stemborer, fall armyworm, poor soil fertility, fodder shortage) as entry point (3) establish a farmer-to-farmer knowledge exchange hub for effective scaling out of PPT. This partnership will have a ripple effect, empowering farmers, improve their livelihood and uplifting many out of poverty. Together, we can make a significant impact on the food security landscape and reduce poverty, livelihoods and climate change resilience in the sub-Saharan region of East Africa, while reducing the environmental impact of agricultural practices. For this, it fosters the design, adaptation and adoption of strategies for integrated agro-ecological management based on push-pull technology for wide-spread and climate-resilient sustainable intensification

Kenya's 3rd Annual National Multi-Actor Community of Practice (MAC) Workshop held at Kisumu Hotel.
Kenya's 3rd Annual National Multi-Actor Community of Practice (MAC) Workshop held at Kisumu Hotel.UPSCALE aims to take key steps to realize the transformative potential of push-pull technology, to address food security, livelihoods and climate change resilience in the sub-Saharan region of East Africa, while reducing the environmental impact of agricultural practices. For this, it fosters the design, adaptation and adoption of strategies for integrated agro-ecological management based on push-pull technology for wide-spread and climate-resilient sustainable intensification.... More..

Prof. Zeyaur Khan granted an Emeritus Scientist position
On 31 October 2023, the Governing Council of icipe granted to Prof. Zeyaur Khan an Emeritus Scientist position in recognition of his sustained and distinguished service to icipe and for his past and continuing research on understanding of the complex mechanisms mediating insect-plant and plant-plant chemical interactions in smallholder production systems of sub-Saharan Africa and using this knowledge to develop an integrated climate smart pest and weed management push-pull farming system, and for his contribution to capacity building and mentoring the next generation of African scientists.

icipe Push-Pull technology halts fall armyworm rampage
Fall armyworm has invaded Africa, causing substantial damage to maize and other crops.Currently,there is no control method for this pest in Africa, and pesticides are only minimally used in the continent.Climate-adapted push-pull technology overcomes stemborers, some of which belong to the same family as the fall armyworm.On-farm data confirm effectiveness of the technology in control of fall armyworm in East Africa. Read more...

How to win the war against armyworm without pesticides
"We talked about the fall armyworm and destruction it is causing. While every other farmer is experiencing huge losses, my crop has not been attached. The difference between my farm and other farms is that I grow desmodium , a pest repellant crop", said a Push-pull farmer

Our Goal
“To end hunger and poverty for 10 million people by extending Push-Pull technology to 1 million households in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030”, The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goal No. 2
Push-Pull halts fall armyworm
 Push-Pull halts fall armyworm
Push-Pull controls fall armyworm
Adopters
Push-pull farmers