Impact assessment of push-pull pest management on incomes, productivity and poverty among smallholder households in Eastern Uganda

Abstract

The paper evaluates the impact of adoption of push-pull technology (PPT) on household welfare in terms of productivity, incomes and poverty status measured through per-capita food consumption in eastern Uganda. Push-pull is a habitat management strategy for the integrated management of stemborers, striga weeds and poor soil fertility involving the use of a natural repellent (push) and an attractant (pull). This biological technology simultaneously reduces the impact of three major production constraints to cereal-livestock farming in Africa − pests, weeds and poor soil. Cross sectional survey data were collected from 560 households in four districts in the region (Busia, Tororo, Bugiri and Pallisa), in November and December 2014. Generalized propensity scoring (GPS) was used to determine the intensity of adoption of the technology (i.e., land area allocated to PPT) and also to estimate the dose-response function (DRF) relating intensity of adoption and household welfare. Results revealed that with increased intensity of reported adoption of PPT, the probability of being poor declined through increased maize yield per unit area, incomes, and per capita food consumption. However, its impact varied with the intensity of adoption. With an increase in the area allocated to PPT from 0.025 to 1 acre, average maize yield per unit area increased from 27 kg to 1400 kg, average household income increased from 135 US$ (Uganda Shilling (USh) 370,000) to 273 US$ (USh 750,000) and per capita food consumption increased from 15 US$ (USh 40,000) to 27 US$ (USh 75,000). The average probability of a household being poor (below a rural poverty line of US$ 12.71) declined from 48% to 28%. These findings imply that increased investment in the dissemination and expansion of PPT is essential for poverty reduction among smallholder farmers in Uganda.