Case Study
Push-and-Pull: An innovative and low-tech solution to control stemborers in Africa
The stemborer is Africa's worst maize pest. In combination with the Striga weed, it can destroy whole crops. The International Research Institute (ICIPE) in Kenya, together with local farmers, developed a successful Push-and-Pull strategy. The farmers plant three rows of the fodder grass, Napier grass, around the maize field. Napier grass has a chemical aroma that attracts the stemborer larvae out of the maize crop. Most of them are killed in the sticky sap of the Napier grass. Between the rows of maize, farmers also plant the legume Desmodium, which exudes a chemical aroma that repels stemborers. Desmodium also suppresses the Striga weed . The Push-and-Pull strategy provides healthy maize and additional feed and protection for the soil.
Despite the success of the Push and Pull strategy, multinational companies, like Swiss-based Syngenta are trying to get small farmers to use genetically engineered Bt maize to control the stemborer. Not only is a costly option, that makes farmers dependent on genetically engineered seeds, but it also has not been tested for adverse human health or ecological impacts. For more information, please visit Farming Solutions.
Source: Genetic Engineering versus Organic farming — The fact and the fiction (IFOAM 2002), or order a brochure.