Sustainable intensification of vegetable production using the cereal ‘push-pull technology’: benefits and one health implications

‘One health’ (OH) is a cross-sectoral approach that addresses human, plant, animal, and environmental health problems. The initiative stems from recognition of the convoluted linkages among global health risks and the need for coherent multipronged countermeasures. For agriculture, environmental degradation and biodiversity depletion wrought by heavy reliance on inorganic inputs to meet the needs of the ever-growing human population, are a matter of societal concern. Agroecological-based farming strategies have therefore aptly been promoted as an alternative. The push-pull technology (PPT), which was originally developed to combat stemborer pests and later the parasitic weed Striga is one such example. Undoubtedly, the PPT`s ability to maintain soil health and fertility, human and animal nutrition, and food safety together with crop protection against pests remains a progressive approach for buttressing food production among resource-constrained farmers in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). In a bid to elevate its nutrition-sensitivity status, we recently intensified the cereal PPT by adding vegetables and legumes whilst simultaneously closing yield gaps through judicious usage of land, and environmental and crop protection based on farmer needs. Such context-based interventions, unlock new benefits for farmers and open new frontiers for research in pest and biodiversity management emanating from crop production infused with food safety and environmental stewardship. Whilst OH has largely received attention regarding animal health and zoonotics, we here opine how sustainably managed crop health, in the vegetable intensified PPT, contributes to the same outcomes through human and animal nutrition, food safety that bolsters developmental goals in gender equity and food security. We conclude that the cropping system can even contribute to fight against zoonotic diseases if companion plants that fend off diseases vectors are incorporated.