Could the use of low-tech solutions help to
revolutionise how we tackle food insecurity
and the impacts of climate change?
In Sub-Saharan Africa, erratic weather
patterns, parasitic striga weed and destructive
insects like cereal stemborers and fall
armyworm can completely decimate maize
crops. Recent research from Send a Cow in
Zambia has shown that 94% of farmers are
struggling with these pests.
The common response would be pesticides
or expensive interventions, which are
unattainable for many, and can be devastating
for ecosystems.
Yet there is a simple solution. Developed
in East Africa by icipe and tested by the
sustainable development charity, Send a Cow,
climate-smart Push-Pull technology is an
affordable nature-based solution providing
effective, low-cost management of cereal
stemborers, fall armyworm, striga weeds,
aflatoxin and soil fertility^1.
Maize, a staple food for millions of people,
is intercropped with a fodder legume
desmodium, which produces volatile chemicals
that repel the stemborer and fall armyworm
moths (Push). The food crop is then surrounded
by Napier or brachiaria grass, which attracts the
stemborer moths (Pull) and encourages them to
lay their eggs on the grass.
Both of the plants used are drought-tolerant,
and able to withstand drier and hotter
conditions associated with climate change,
protecting people from food shortages. They
are also perennial and produce high quality
fodder crops all year round, increasing milk
production^2.
Wise Mwale, a Send a Cow farmer in Zambia,
established his Push-Pull plot in December- He says: “I have noticed that [in] the
areas where desmodium is well established
there are fewer stemborers, fall armyworm and
striga damaged crops compared to my
conventional field adjacent - where nearly all
the plants are damaged by these pests. This
Signal Boost
technology is working; [when] all the
desmodium and the brachiaria are well
established, I will have no challenges with these
pests.”
Push-Pull technology is an innovation
in farming that is benefitting more than 1.5
million people in 250,000 farm households by
significantly reducing hunger in 18 Sub-
Saharan African countries^3.
At a time when coronavirus is preventing
farmers from effectively producing and selling
food crops, these low-cost, low-tech solutions
are invaluable.
Battling with the effects of climate change,
families need our help now to grow resilient and
sustainable crops and mitigate the impending
‘hunger pandemic’ in sub-Saharan Africa.Want to help?
Text PUSHPULL to 70085 to donate £19 to Send a Cow. Your donation
could cover the cost of a year’s push-pull training for a familyWelcome to our Signal Boost project – a weekly page for charitable
organisations to get their message out to a global audience, free of charge.
Today, a message from Send a Cow
Home-grown technology: how nature-based
solutions can feed the world
(^1) Cook et al. 2006; Khan et al. 2006; Khan et al. 2014;
Khan et at 2018, Owuor et al. 2018
(^2) Chepchirchir et al. 2018
(^3) Pickett et al. 2019