For any questions, write to Director General,ICIPE, PO Box 30772-00100, Nairobi, Kenya.

Tel: +254 (20) 861680-4, E-mail: icipe@icipe.org

For 1 acre of land 1kg of gram desmodiumseed is needed.

5. Prepare the soil carefully so that it is as fineand clean as possible.

6. Using a strong pointed stick, make a furrowin the middle of the rows where maize will beplanted.

7. Mix the desmodium seed with super phos-phate fertilizer (about one handful of seedand two handfuls of fertilizer).

8. If you cannot afford fertilizer, then mix seedwith fine soil. Sow it into the furrows youmade and cover with soil.

9. Plant desmodium with the rains for maximumgermination.

10. Plant your maize in the field surrounded byNapier grass.

11. After 3 and 6 weeks, trim the desmodium sothat it does not overgrow in between themaize plants.

12. Keep the field weed free so that the Napierhas a start on the maize. The moths will likethe larger Napier even more than the maize.

A well-planted field should look like this:

Use “Push-Pull”Strategy

and produce more maizeby controlling stemborers

and striga weed

Plant Napier grass on border anddesmodium in between the rowsof maize to control stemborers

and striga weedInternational Centre of Insect Physiology and

Ecology (ICIPE), with Rothamsted-Research, UK,KARI and MOA, Kenya

Donor: Gatsby Charitable Foundation, UKVisit website: www.push-pull.net

• Increased maize yield• Continuous supply of cattle feed from

the Napier grass and the desmodium• Nitrogen fixed into your farm by

desmodium legume, so you save onfertilizer costs

• Soil protected from erosion asdesmodium acts as a cover crop

• Soil retaining water as desmodium actsas a mulch

• Money from sale of desmodium seed ata good price

• Money from selling more milk from yourcattle

• Saving on farm labour as you do nothave to pull striga

• Maize protected from strong windswhen surrounded by Napier grass

A farmer feeding their cow on Napier grass anddesmodium harvested from ‘push-pull’ fields.

For more details on planting methods, please readthe following ICIPE brochure:"Grow more maize and Napier grass: make moremoney""Grow desmodium and stop striga"

Advantages of adopting the 'push-pull'methodWhen you adopt the 'push-pull' strategy you will get:

mai

ze

des

mo

diu

m

Have you seen stemborer, and striga weeddamage on your maize crop?

If you were to harvest 10 bags of maize,stemborer and striga cause a loss of 8 bags!

How does the strigaweed affect yourmaize?Striga weed puts its rootsinto the roots of maizeplant. Striga weed takesthe food the maize cropis trying to get from thesoil before the maizeuses it.

What is “Push-Pull” Strategy?It is a cropping strategy to control both stemborersand striga weed. The farmers use Napier grass anddesmodium legume for management of thesepests in their maize fields. Desmodium is plantedin between the rows of maize.

It produces a smell that stemborer moths don’tlike. The smell “pushes” away the stemborermoths from the maize crop.Desmodium also covers the surface of the groundbetween the rows of maize. It puts a chemicalinto the ground that stops striga weed fromgrowing on maize.Napier grass is planted around the maize crop as atrap plant. It is more attractive to stemborer mothsand it “pulls” the moths to lay their eggs on it.But Napier grass does not allow stemborer larvaeto develop on it. When the eggs hatch and thelarvae bore into Napier grass, the plant producessticky glue, which traps them in, and they die. Sovery few stemborer larvae survive, no striga growsand maize is saved in the ‘push-pull’ strategy!

How to plant a "Push-Pull" field?

1. Plant Napier grass (Bana variety is the best) ina border around the maize plot.

2. Plant at least three rows of Napier all aroundthe maize field.

3. In the first year, plant Napier grass before therains so that it has a start on the maize. Thestemborer moths will like the larger Napiergrass even more than the maize.

4. Get desmodium seeds from seed companies(Western Seed Co. or Kenya Seed Co) or yourneighbour who has started growing it.

x x x1

MaizeBag

1MaizeBag

How do stemborers get into your maizecrop?Moths lay on maize plant. Eggs hatch into larvaethat eat maize leaves and burrow into the stem asit grows

The stemborer hence eats the food the maizewould use to fill the grains

Moths layeggs on plants

Larvapupates

Remains15-22 daysas larva

Remains 7-14 daysas pupa

Moth survives 2-3 days

Row of eggs

Pupa hatches into moth

Larva eats plant and grows

Life Cycle of Stemborers

Egg hatches into larva

egg to larva3-5 days

"PUSH-PULL" SYSTEM

Trap crop(Napier grass)

Attract stemborersRepels stemborers

Attractnaturalenemies

Maize (main crop )

Repellentcrop(Desmodium)

xxx x x