Promoting conservation agriculture through push-pull technology as an agroecological transition.

<p>Abstract&nbsp;<br>Low soil fertility, weeds, pests, and climatic change severely threaten crop productivity and agricultural&nbsp;<br>sustainability, especially in SSA. Despite decades of research finding adequate technical solutions for most&nbsp;<br>situations of food systems, the problem of low food productivity has persisted. In an effort to counter this,&nbsp;<br>intensive agricultural systems have been mooted including the high application of agrochemicals to control&nbsp;<br>weeds, and pests and increase production. However, these initiatives have not lasted beyond the project cycle&nbsp;<br>and they have instigated land degradation through unsustainable practices. As a solution, conservation&nbsp;<br>agricultural practices have been promoted among small-scale farmers. These practices focus on minimizing soil&nbsp;<br>disturbance, crop diversification, and cover cropping. Push-pull technology is an aspect of conservation&nbsp;<br>agriculture where intercropping a cereal crop with a repellent plant, such as desmodium and planting an&nbsp;<br>attractive trap plant, such as brachiaria or Napier grass as a border crop around this intercrop. This paper aimed&nbsp;<br>at reviewing existing literature to establish the linkage between conservation agriculture components, push-pull&nbsp;<br>technology, and a sustainable agroecological transition. A list of questions directed the discussion where push<br>pull technology has been proven to be an aspect that promotes conservation agriculture. It has been able to&nbsp;<br>increase crop yields, reduced tillage, established a cover crop on the farm, and further, PPT has a regenerative&nbsp;<br>aspect through the integration of livestock husbandry providing organic manure that and together with the&nbsp;<br>nitrogen fixation ability of the grass, improve soil fertility, conserved soil moisture, and reduce erosion. This&nbsp;<br>reduces the use of inorganic input, and machinery making farming economical for small-holder farmers. &nbsp;</p>