Plant health system developing well in Zambia

January 30, 2014 by Leave a comment

Farmers' validation of factsheets during Plantwise training in Lusaka, Zambia

Farmers’ validation of factsheets during Plantwise training in Lusaka, Zambia. Credit: Stefan Toepfer © CABI

Since the launch of Plantwise in Zambia last year, much progress has been made to build capacity within the national plant health system. In collaboration with the Zambia Agriculture Research Institute (ZARI), CABI staff have successfully trained crop officers and extension staff from the Department of Agriculture, ZARI, and Self Help Africa on ‘how to be a plant doctor’. In addition to this, training on development of pest management decision guides and factsheets has produced content that will be made available on the Plantwise knowledge bank for other plant doctors to use. A workshop on data management has also been run, training plant health experts in recording data at plant clinics, data harmonization, validation, analysis and sharing. Read more of this post

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Photo of the Month, October 2013 – Idyllic location for training in Malawi

October 7, 2013 by Leave a comment

Data management training participants at Lake Malawi

Participants during the plant clinic data management training held at the Mpatsa Lodge Salima by Lake Malawi from 16th to 17th September, 2013 © CABI

Plantwise was launched in Malawi in May 2013 after vigorous training of plant doctors in crop pest identification and how to give recommendations based on the identified pest problem. In the 14 plant clinics widespread in Lilongwe and Mzimba, there was need to understand the role that the plant clinic data will play in the national Plant Health System. Plant clinic data management training was carried out for the eight participants from the Ministry of Agriculture, Agricultural Extension and Crop Development departments and World Vision who are directly involved in the supervision of plant clinic data collection and use. Read more of this post

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Days are numbered for pests in Kenya’s irrigation schemes

September 17, 2013 by Leave a comment

Plant clinic launch in Mbeere, Kenya

Plant clinic launch at Mbeere Sub-county SHDP, Kenya © Rose Kamau

Report by Peter Karanja and Abigail Rumsey

Between May and July this year, 22 new plant clinics were established in Kenya. Nine of these clinics were launched by the Smallscale Horticulture Development Project (SHDP), which has been funded by the African Development Bank to help smallholder farmers increase the amount that they produce and earn through irrigation and enhanced marketing. The new clinics have been initiated by the Kenyan Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries in irrigation schemes in nine districts.

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Record crop losses cost the United States $17.3B last year

September 3, 2013 by Leave a comment

iStock_000007228944LargeOver $17 billion was spent in 2012 on farm insurance claims for destroyed crops in the U.S., up from an average of $4.1 billion per year from 2001 until 2011. This record-breaking jump in insurance pay-outs was in large part due to extreme weather conditions over the past growing season. Drought, heat and hot wind accounted for 97 percent of destruction in Iowa alone, with the third largest agricultural GDP in the U.S. These figure come from a report published by the National Research Defense Council (NRDC) which argues that destructive conditions such as these are expected to become only more common, and action will have to be taken to restructure the insurance and pay-out system within the U.S. The question is whether these decisions will echo through emerging farm insurance markets abroad.

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A Happy Brinjal Farmer in the North of Sri Lanka

August 23, 2013 by Leave a comment

Sri Lanka plant doctor

The farmer studies the mites on his crop © CABI

In Sri Lanka many plant clinics are running to provide free advice to farmers. One such plant clinic at Mallavi vegetable market, received a desperate farmer with an unknown problem in his brinjal crop in the beginning of May 2013. He was fed up of using different pesticides suggested by the local agro-chemical dealer and spending lots of money for nothing so wanted to quit brinjal farming. Find out how the plant clinic team helped him and saved his crop by reading the full case study at http://www.plantwise.org/default.aspx?site=234&page=4321

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Video Interview with Sierra Leone’s Minister of Agriculture

August 5, 2013 by Leave a comment

 

Recently Melanie Bateman of CABI Switzerland and Dr IMO Shamie, Sierra Leone’s Director of Crops and Plantwise National Coordinator, had the unique opporunity to sit down for a meeting with Sierra Leone’s Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security, Dr Joseph Sam Sesay. During the meeting, Dr Sesay told his story of being the first customer at a plant clinic in Sierra Leone, and he gave some strong words of support for the Plantwise programme. Take a look

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Plantwise Photo Of The Month – August

August 1, 2013 by 2 Comments

A farmer at a plant clinic in Grenada receives a demonstration of how to make a trap to catch coconut weevils using discarded plastic water bottles. Image courtesy of Shamela Rambadan (CABI).

A farmer at a plant clinic in Grenada receives a demonstration of how to make a trap to catch coconut weevils using discarded plastic water bottles. Image courtesy of Shamela Rambadan (CABI).

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How plant clinics are helping farmers in Puducherry, India

July 8, 2013 by 1 Comment

Plant clinic in Pondicherry, India

Plant doctors inspect a diseased rice sample at a plant clinic in Pondicherry, India. Photo: Sanjit Das/Panos

Plantwise plant clinics are currently operating in 31 countries in Asia, Africa and Central & Latin America. Thousands of farmers come to these clinics for advice on managing their crops, particularly crops that are being affected by pests or disease. The video below gives the story of a farmer in Puducherry, India, who got advice on how to manage the rice in her paddy field that had turned yellow during a cyclone.

For information on plant diseases in India, visit the Plantwise Knowledge Bank.

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Plantwise news update May 2013

May 22, 2013 by Leave a comment

PlantwiseLeaves150x150The latest Plantwise newsletter is here. Click ‘Read more’ to find out about the launch of Plantwise in Ghana, discussions on greater collaboration between CABI and agricultural stakeholders in Myanmar,  support for Plantwise from the European Union, and developments in the Knowledge Bank.

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So how can we deal with all this plant clinic data?

May 21, 2013 by Leave a comment

Plant clinic in Pondicherry, IndiaThere are many ways that data from plant clinics can inform agricultural activities. Clinic data can be used to identify the distribution of major crops and diseases, and help to flag up new and emerging pests and diseases. These data can also contribute to the monitoring of the quality of advice given to farmers at plant clinics, and be used to determine what additional training plant doctors might need.

Plantwise Online Management System graphs

The Plantwise Online Management System will enable plant health stakeholders to view analyses of their plant clinic data © CABI

CABI Country Coordinators and EU Resource Staff for several Plantwise countries gathered in Egham, UK for a two-day course on data management, facilitated by the Plantwise Knowledge Bank team. The course emphasised the importance of collecting good quality data from the plant clinics, and managing it effectively within the country, so that this can provide information to farmers, extension workers, researchers, and other plant health stakeholders.

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