🌱 Spatial Assessment of Push-Pull Technology (PPT) in Malawi

Authors: Quinto Juma Meltus*, Elfatih Abdel-Rahman, Komi Agboka Mensah, Rachel Awuor Owino, Takemore Chagomoka, Thomas Dubois
Institution: International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe), Nairobi, Kenya
Corresponding author: jmeltus@icipe.org

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📖 Overview

This repository contains R scripts used to provide suitability layers for the evaluation of conventional (1st generation) and climate-smart (2nd generation) PPT for maize pest management in Malawi using a species distribution modeling (SDM)-MaxEnt framework.

Workflow integrates:

• 🌍 Species occurrence data acquisition: Download pest and companion crop occurrences from GBIF
• 🌿 Species Distribution Modeling: MaxEnt using sdm package
• 📊 Validation: 104 georeferenced PPT demonstration plots in Malawi
• 🗺️ Raster preprocessing: Cropping, masking, resampling environmental predictors (climatic, edaphic, landscape)

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📁 Repository Structure