Agroforestry: Mitigating Cocoa Swollen Shoot Virus Disease in Ghana

Crop diseases are an ever-increasing worldwide threat and estimated to be the cause of the 20-40% decrease in global agricultural productivity. With this boom in plant diseases affecting agricultural practices, there is therefore also an increased demand for research and the implementation of disease control and management schemes.
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BioClay pesticide spray successful in recent trials

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Australian researchers have developed a new nanotechnology pesticide spray called BioClay which has shown success in recent trials. Developed by the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI) and the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), BioClay contains double stranded RNA which can be sprayed onto a crop. When the RNA contacts the…
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Factsheet of the month: September 2015 – Control of Black Rot in Cabbage

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Black rot is considered the most important disease of crucifers across the world and can attack its host at any stage of growth. Cauliflower and cabbage are the most readily affected crucifer hosts and suffer significant yield loss as a result of the disease. On cabbage, black rot causes yellow to brown V-shaped lesions to…
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Bridging the Agricultural Extension gap through Plant Health Rallies in Uganda

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Article published in the Agribusiness Digest, Uganda
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Plant Health Rallies Launched in Zambia

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Blog written by Dorcas Kabuya Chaaba-National Agricultural Information Services,Zambia Rallies are commonly associated with politics, a time when politicians present their ideologies to the electorates in a bid to win votes. But this time around, officers from the Ministry of Agriculture and livestock implementing the Plantwise initiative in Zambia held plant health rallies with farmers…
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Healing Plants to Feed a Nation

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Growing up in a small village in Western Kenya, I often accompanied my mother and other village women on customary weeding expeditions. Whenever we came across sick plants in the fields—which was all too often—my mother would instruct me to pull them out and cast them aside. I did as she asked, but wondered to…
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Factsheet of the month: April 2015 – Trapping banana weevils

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According to the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Tanzania and Uganda, who produce almost half of all bananas in Africa, are only achieving 9% of their expected yield. This year sees the start of a 5-year project to develop high-yielding, pest resistant banana hybrids. Rony Swennen, the project’s leader, says that he hopes this…
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Factsheet of the month: March 2015 – Tomato yellow leaf curl management

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A recent plant protection conference in Hanoi highlighted dangerous levels of pesticide use in agriculture in Vietnam. The head of Vietnam’s Plant Protection Department, Nguyen Xuan Hong, announced that a 5-year Integrated Pest Management (IPM) project had been approved by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. IPM will be important in reducing both costs to…
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Factsheet of the month: February 2015 – Sugarcane Woolly Aphids

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India is one of the world’s largest producers of sugarcane which is used in many food and drink products. Sugarcane is vulnerable to a variety of pests, including sugarcane woolly aphids which caused a 30% yield loss in the outbreak of 2002. This pest is constrained to south and east Asia, (see the Plantwise distribution…
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Factsheet of the month: January 2015 – Management of clubroot disease in crucifers

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Clubroot is a serious disease of crucifers. It is found in many countries across the world (see the Plantwise distribution map).  It is caused by the fungus Plasmodiophora brassicae, whose spores can live for many years in the soil. This makes the disease difficult to control once a field has been infected. To find out more about…
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