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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. Cross sectional survey data was collected from 560 households in four districts in the region: Busia, Tororo, Bugiri and Pallisa, in November and December 2014. Tobit model was used to determine the intensity of adoption of the technology whereas generalized propensity scores (GPS) was applied to estimate the dose-response function (DRF) relating intensity of adoption and household welfare. Results revealed that with increased intensity of PPT adoption, probability of being poor declines through increased yield, incomes, and per capita food consumption. With an increase in the area allocated to PPT from 0.025 to 1 acre, average maize yield increases from 27 kgs to 1,400 kgs, average household income increases from 135 USD (UGX 370,000) to 273 USD (UGX 750,000) and per capita food consumption increases from 15 USD (UGX 40,000) to 27 USD (UGX 75,000). The average probability of being poor declines from 48% to 28%: This implies that increased investment on PPT dissemination and expansion is essential for poverty reduction among smallholder farmers.

Women are taking over the Agriculture sector in sub-Saharan Africa and policies that enhance their empowerment in farming would have positive gains in enhancing food security and transforming lives. Adoption studies have identified gender as one of the factors that determine technology uptake, and this has been linked to women’s access to farming information or lack of it. Technology scaling up systems should utilize pathways that are compatible with the needs of rural women who have to juggle farming with other household chores. Unfortunately, there has been limited effort to evaluate the suitability of the information pathways used to specific gender. This study evaluates the appropriateness of field days with respect to gender of the participants. A total of 2,615 participants were interviewed out of 6,221 who attended field days in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The determinants of level knowledge level gained and willingness to adopt was evaluated using an ordered probit and logit model. Our findings shows that majority of the participants were women (51.3%), middle aged (40-45 years) and with primary level education (54.1% women). The model results shows that women farmers understood more about push-pull (coefficient of ordered probit = -0.112) and were more willing to adopt push-pull (coefficient of logit = -0.367). Age, education, being a push-pull farmer, perception of Striga severity and having a mobile phone were also significant. Our findings demonstrate that field days are appropriate for training farmers especially women who are often disadvantaged in information access.

The parasitic weeds Striga asiatica and Striga hermonthica cause high yield losses in rain-fed upland rice in Africa. Two resistance classes (pre- and post-attachment) and several resistant genotypes have been identified among NERICA (New Rice for Africa) cultivars under laboratory conditions (in vitro) previously. However, little is known about expression of this resistance under field conditions. Here we investigated (1) whether resistance exhibited under controlled conditions would express under representative Striga-infested field conditions, and (2) whether NERICA cultivars would achieve relatively good grain yields under Striga-infested conditions. Twenty-five rice cultivars, including all 18 upland NERICA cultivars, were screened in S. asiatica-infested (in Tanzania) and S. hermonthica-infested (in Kenya) fields during two seasons. Additionally, a selection of cultivars was tested in vitro, in mini-rhizotron systems. For the first time, resistance observed under controlled conditions was confirmed in the field for NERICA-2, -5, -10 and -17 (against S. asiatica) and NERICA-1 to -5, -10, -12, -13 and -17 (against S. hermonthica). Despite high Striga-infestation levels, yields of around 1.8 t ha−1 were obtained with NERICA-1, -9 and -10 (in the S. asiatica-infested field) and around 1.4 t ha−1 with NERICA-3, -4, -8, -12 and -13 (in the S. hermonthica-infested field). In addition, potential levels of tolerance were identified in vitro, in NERICA-1, -17 and -9 (S. asiatica) and in NERICA-1, -17 and -10 (S. hermonthica). These findings are highly relevant to rice agronomists and breeders and molecular geneticists working on Striga resistance. In addition, cultivars combining broad-spectrum resistance with good grain yields in Striga-infested fields can be recommended to rice farmers in Striga-prone areas.

The adaptation of push-pull technology to the drier ecological zones is of critical importance for its sustainability in view of the effects of global climate change. While intensified dissemination of the climate-smart technology would ensure its maximum adoption, knowledge of its potential adoption is necessary before dissemination resources are commitment. Potential adoption of a technology is however based on a wide range of farm, farmer, institutional and socioeconomic characteristics. This study was interested on these determinants of potential adoption of the climate-smart push-pull ex ante. The study adopted the multinomial logit technique to evaluate potential adoption determinants, and the findings were consistent with expectations based on theoretical hypothesis with gender, striga rating, push-pull awareness, input market access and country dummy variables being the significant predictors of the potential adoption. These findings are critical if effective targeting of the dissemination messages is to be accomplished.

PhD (Environmental Sciences), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015 Cultivation of Napier grass, Pennisetum purpureum, the most important livestock crop in East Africa is severely constrained by Napier Grass Stunt (NGS) disease. The disease spreads via an insect vector or vegetative propagation of infected plant material and is caused by a phytoplasma. This necessitates the development of an integrated management approach for the disease. Therefore, objectives of this study were to assess the incidence of the disease and its severity, to identify its wild hosts and farmers‟ knowledge on these hosts, to assess the threat of NGS disease to cultivated grasses and to establish the role of wild inoculum sources in its spread. The study showed NGS incidence ranging from 33% in Uganda to 95% in Kenya with 49% of the farmers interviewed, being able to discern NGS disease by its symptoms. Most farmers cited roguing and use of alternative fodder grasses as control measures, making these strategies the likely components of an integrated management approach for the disease. Responders named Sedge grass (Cyperus spp.) and Star grass (Cynodon dactylon) as the likely hosts of diseases caused by phytoplasma. Phytoplasmas were detected in leaves of 11 of 33 wild grass species collected using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based on the highly conserved phytoplasma-specific 16S ribosomal DNA fragment. Sequence determination of amplified PCR fragments revealed the presence of NGS-related phytoplasmas in 11 grass species, Bermuda grass white leaf (BGWL) phytoplasmas in three and goosegrass white leaf (GGWL) in two wild grass species, showing that the geographical distribution and diversity of phytoplasmas and their grass hosts are greater than previously thought. The relationships between NGS and Hyparrhenia grass white leaf (HGWL) phytoplasmas were determined using sequences based on secA gene and immunodominant protein (imp). Results showed a very low genetic diversity between NGS and HGWL and produced a phylogenetic tree congruent to that produced by the 16S, affirming the inclusion of HGWL in the 16SrXI group. NGS phytoplasma was transmissible to food crops through Maiestas banda Kramer (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) under screen-house conditions. With 56.3%, Saccharum officinarum showed the highest infection level followed by Eleusine coracana with 50%, Sorghum bicolor with 43.8%, Oryza sativa with 31.3% and Zea mays with 18.8%. All the phytoplasma-infected plants were asymptomatic except S. officinarum plants, which showed mild to moderate symptoms consisting of foliar yellow leaves and bright white or yellow midribs. This hints that besides wild hosts, food crops may also serve as alternative source of inoculum enabling a complex NGS disease cycle, which may add to challenges in the development of the disease control strategies. However, failure by M. banda to transmit HGWL and BGWL phytoplasmas back to Napier grass is an indication that it could be the exclusive vector of NGS. Therefore, there is need to initiate transmission trials using planthoppers and leafhoppers occurring on HGWL and BGWL phytoplasma-infected grasses to determine whether insect vectors capable of transmitting phytoplasmas from native grasses to Napier grass, are present in the region. Doctoral

PhD (Environmental Sciences), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015 Maize, a genetically diverse crop, is the third largest cereal crop in the world and the most important staple cereal in sub-Saharan Africa, supplying 50% of the calorie intake in this region. The stemborer Chilo partellus (Swinhoe) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) is a key constraint to cereal production in most resource-poor smallholder farming systems in sub-Saharan Africa causing crop losses accruing up to 88%. Previous studies have shown that feeding by herbivorous insects induces maize to emit volatiles attractive to natural enemies. However, these antagonists are recruited when damage has already been inflicted on the plant. Recent investigations revealed that egg deposition can induce maize landraces of Mesoamerican origin to emit volatiles attractive to C. partellus parasitoids, a trait previously reported to be absent in maize hybrids. However, genotypic variation in this indirect defence trait within maize varieties adapted to local agroclimatic conditions and the effect of processes such as domestication and breeding on this trait are not known. Moreover, it is not known whether maize varieties possessing this indirect defence trait can directly deter further herbivore colonization and constitutively suppress the herbivore's larval development or whether they can induce the same defence trait in neighbouring unattacked plants. This study sought to fill these knowledge gaps with the aim of exploiting these plant defence traits in the development of ecologically sound crop protection strategies. Experiments were conducted in which headspace volatile samples were collected from plants of wild, landrace and hybrid maize with and without C. partellus eggs. Chemical analyses were done using gas chromatography (GC), coupled GC-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and coupled GC-Electroantenography (GC-EAG). Behavioural bioassays were done using egg (Trichogramma bournieri Pintureau (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae)) and larval (Cotesia sesamiae Cameron (Hymenoptera: Braconidae)) parasitoids in a 4-arm olfactometer using volatiles collected from the plants. Moreover, C. partellus larval preference, growth and development as well as subsequent oviposition behaviour of gravid C. partellus moths on these plants were determined. Behavioural assays showed that both T. bournieri and C. sesamiae preferred volatiles from four of the five wild teosinte species, five landraces and one of two maize hybrids exposed to egg deposition. Similarly, volatiles collected from unoviposited maize landrace plants exposed to oviposited landrace maize plants emitting oviposition-induced volatiles, were attractive to both egg and larval parasitoids. Moreover, maize varieties emitting these oviposition-induced volatiles deterred further herbivore colonization and suppressed larval development. Volatile analysis by GC and GC-MS revealed marked increases in volatile emission as well as qualitative changes in the odour blends in four wild types, five landraces and one hybrid, following stemborer oviposition. Coupled GC-EAG analysis of attractive samples revealed that C. sesamiae was responsive to (E)-2- hexenal, (Z)-3-hexen-1-ol, nonane, 6-methyl-5-heptene-2-one, α-pinene, myrcene, limonene, (E)-4,8-dimethyl-1,3,7-nonatriene, decanal, 3,4-dimethylacetophenone and (E)-β-farnesene. Results from this study provide insights into tritrophic interactions thus paving the way for designing novel and ecologically sound pest management strategies through breeding crops with this novel oviposition-induced defence trait. Doctoral