PlantwisePlus Blog

Banana Xanthomonas Wilt- infected banana plants in banana farm. (Photo credit: IITA Image Library via Flickr.com)

Here’s a taste of some of the latest stories about plant health, including reports linking pesticide use to reduced cocoa and oil palm yields in Ghana,  an unidentified maize disease in Kenya, and the destructive banana disease in Congo-Kinshasa that is threatening food security.

Click on the link to read more of the latest plant health news!

• Kenyan fruit & veg sales drop after chemical ban
  Fresh Fruit Portal, 22 May 2012
• Two wheat candidates promise step up in yield
  Farmers Weekly, 22 May 2012
• Congo-Kinshasa: ‘Banana Aids’ Threatens Social Fabric On Idjwi Island
  AllAfrica News, 21 May, 2012
• Crop Scouting Cards Now Available
  Iowa State University, 21 May 2012
• Predicted corn rootworm hatch begins for 2012
  Iowa State University, 21 May 2012
• Ghana: Cocoa and Palm Oil Crop Failures Linked to Pesticides
  SciDev.Net., 18 May 2012
• Drought Tolerant Maize Boosts Farmers’ Harvests in Tanzania
  Issue of Crop Biotech Update, 18 May, 2012 
• Kenya: Farmers’ Concern Over Strange Maize Disease
  The Star, 17 May 2012
• Bean Leaf Beetles are Moving to Soybean
  Iowa state University, 17 May 2012
• Tanzania: Locusts Destroy Rice Farms in Katavi
  Tanzania Daily News, 17 May 2012

If there’s another news story you’d like to highlight, please post a comment below.