Abstract

Food security attainment in Africa has been hindered by poor yields of cereals that serve both as staple and cash crops for the majority of smallholder farmers. Among the various constraints responsible for lower yields are the parasitic weed Striga, and Stemborer pests whose control has remained a challenge. The International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe) with partners developed a novel conservation agricultural technology termed ‘push-pull’, based on companion cropping that effectively controls both constraints simultaneously. However, the effects of climate change threatened its expansion into drier areas where Striga is rapidly spreading. Further adaptation of the conventional (original) push-pull technology was thus achieved through identification and incorporation of drought tolerant companion crops, and the procedure termed ‘climate-smart’ push-pull technology. With maximum adoption of the adapted technology, food security in the drier agro-ecologies would be enhanced through increased cereal yields. Adoption, however, depends on how well technology dissemination is implemented. The objective of this study was to quantify the potential adoption and impact of climate-smart push-pull technology ex ante in order to plan for its wide scale dissemination. Using a sample of 898 respondents (360 in Kenya, 240 in Tanzania, 298 in Ethiopia), multinomial logit and marginal rate of return (MRR) methods were used to analyze the findings of the ex ante baseline survey. These showed a high potential for adoption of climate-smart push-pull as 87.8 % of the overall sample were willing to adopt; 92.1 % in Tanzania, 88.6 % in Ethiopia and 84.3 % in Kenya. Gender, perceptions of Striga severity, technology awareness and input market access were the most likely factors that would positively influence the decision to adopt (marginal effects 0.060, 0.010, 0.042, and 0.738 respectively). The MRR was 109.2 % for sorghum and 143.4 % for maize, implying an expected positive impact to the community should they adopt the technology.

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