[3] Historically, this wild species has been used primarily for grazing,[4] recently, however, it has been used as part of a push–pull agricultural pest management strategy.

[9] In Colombia, Cardona et al. estimates a yield range of 40–60 dry tonnes for the napier variant King Grass, under optimal conditions.

[11] At the top end of the range, napier grasses have been shown to yield up to 80 dry tonnes per hectare per year,[12][13][14] and commercial napier grass developers advertise yields of roughly 100 dry tonnes per hectare per year, provided there is an adequate amount of rain or irrigation available (100 mm per month).

For large-scale plantations with pines, acacias, poplars and willows in temperate regions, Smil estimates yields of 5–15 dry tonnes per hectare per year, and for similarly large plantations, with eucalyptus, acacia, leucaena, pinus and dalbergia in tropical and subtropical regions, his estimate is 20–25 dry tonnes.

[4] Napier grass has shown potential at attracting stemborer moths (a main cause of yield loss in Africa) away from maize[4] and hence is the "pull" crop.

[18] The method proposes that sorghum or corn be intercropped with Desmodium (the "push" plant), which repels the moths as they look to lay their eggs.

Desmodium also provides a ground cover and is nitrogen fixing, which improves soil fertility while decreasing labour involved with weeding.

[4] A study of Kenyan farmers using the push-pull strategy reported an 89% reduction in Striga (a parasitic weed), an 83% increase in soil fertility, and 52% effectiveness in stemborer control.

[19] Considering that striga, stemborers, and low soil fertility together cause yield losses of an estimated 7 billion US dollars or enough to feed 27 million people,[19] the implementation of this technique could significantly reduce food insecurity.

Although promising as a sustainable and affordable option, the success of push-pull pest management highly depends on proper implementation in combination with other good ecological practices.

[18] Once prominent in a field, it is difficult to rid the area of the stemborer pests as larvae can remain dormant, and therefore push-pull management will not have the intended effect.

Finally, the establishment of a push-pull system requires increased labour in the primary stages and a large enough land plot to allow space for a non-food crop to be planted; these factors often deter its adoption.

[19] A program could increase adoption rates through promoting its use in combination with livestock, giving economic value to the planting of Napier grass.

Furthermore, livestock can be incorporated into the pull-push management system providing another economically viable purpose for the ‘trap’ plant.