PlantwisePlus Blog

Bond, a UK association promoting, supporting and representing the work of international development organisations, announced the CABI-led Plantwise programme as the joint winner of its 2017 Innovation Award. The award showcases organisations, coalitions or initiatives that are taking inventive approaches as they chart a course through a complex and changing external environment in international development.
Despite advances made in development cooperation, gaps remain. Factors such as demographic and climate change; conflict and poverty; and changing understandings of development goals all require innovative solutions. This prestigious award recognises the efforts of Plantwise’s funders and implementation partners who make its innovative approach a reality in policy and practice. Over the past six years, Plantwise has grown to reach over ten million farmers in 34 countries, helping them to lose less of what they grow.
Plantwise helps increase food security and improve rural livelihoods by reducing crop losses. It achieves this by establishing networks of local plant clinics, run by trained plant doctors, where farmers can find practical plant health advice. Plant clinics are reinforced by the Plantwise Knowledge Bank: a gateway to online and offline plant health information, including diagnostic resources, pest management advice and front-line data about the spread of pests.
The other winner of the Innovation Award was Send a Cow‘s Taro project. This initiative trains the smallholder farmers and their families in Ethiopia to form cooperatives to produce taro flour, making their vital form of sustenance available to their communities during food shortage months and raising their household income.
Watch Planwise’s submission video below:

For more information about the award, visit https://www.bond.org.uk/innovation-award