Plantwise 2012 Highlights
January 9, 2013 Leave a comment
As we move into the New Year and all that 2013 has to offer it seems like a good time to review some of the achievements of 2012 . Here are a few of the Plantwise highlights of 2012!
Plantwise news update December 2012
December 10, 2012 Leave a comment
The latest Plantwise newsletter is here. Click ‘Read more’ to find out about plant clinics being set up in Rwanda, the experiences of a plant doctor in DRC, and what plant doctor training really entails.
Coffee Production in Hot Water- The Impacts of Climate Change on the Future of Coffee Crops
November 13, 2012 Leave a comment
Roasted Arabica coffee beans. Arabica coffee is highly prized as having the best flavour and quality of all coffee varieties, but the future of Arabica coffee is threatened by the impacts of climate change © Sage Ross, via Wikimedia Commons (License CC-BY-SA 3.0, 2.5, 2.0, 1.0)
Coffee (Coffea) is the one of the world’s favourite drinks and the second most traded commodity after oil, accounting for annual retail value of US$ 90 billion. The two main species used in the production of coffee are Arabica coffee (Coffea arabica), which accounts for 70% of coffee production, and Robusta coffee (Coffea canephora). The productivity of Arabica and the distribution of many coffee pests and diseases are strongly linked to climate and seasonality. A series of recent studies have forecast the predicted effects of climate change on both the present and future distribution of Arabica coffee and the effects of climate change on the distribution and lifecycle of the world’s worst coffee pest, the Coffee Berry Borer (Hypothenemus hampei).
Mining technology can help find nutritional crop varieties
April 23, 2012 1 Comment
Millet grains can be analysed for nutritional content using X-ray fluorescence © ICRISAT HOPE/Peter Casier (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 license)
Farmers face difficult challenges in deciding which crop variety to continue growing. They need to choose crop varieties that have a high likelihood of survival and that will have a high yield. The communities that these farmers provide crops for also have needs. Their need is focused on the access to nutritious crops that contain high concentrations of minerals such as zinc and iron. It is easy for farmers to see which crop varieties with the largest vegetative organs and those that survive longest, but how do farmers discover which crops are the most nutritious? They can’t simply look at each plant to find their nutritional content. Now agricultural scientists believe that they may have solved this problem by using X-Ray Fluorescence technology to analyse crop seeds. Read more of this post
Radio initiatives aiding remote African farmers
February 6, 2012 2 Comments
Radio initiatives in Africa provide the means for farmers to share information © Farm Radio International 2008
Information and communication technology has advanced rapidly in the past few decades. Many of us now take connection to the internet and easy access to information for granted. However, in remote parts of the world, even access to electricity is infrequent and unreliable, and communication technology is developing in a way that reflects this. In Africa, one technology that has become popular as a means of reaching a wide audience is radio. Several initiatives are now using this medium to help educate farmers in rural areas. Read more of this post
