Crops downwind from wildfires at risk from atmospheric pollution
With increasing numbers of wildfire disasters globally, research has shown that pollutants released from wildfires can affect crops, forests and other vegetation hundreds of kilometers downwind from the source. As global temperatures increase, moisture and precipitation levels change, and dry areas becoming drier, the likelihood of droughts and prolonged wildfire seasons are increasing.These exacerbated conditions…
Using rice to filter pesticide runoff
Rice has been a staple food crop for millions of people for hundreds of years. This important crop is now a major part of 20% of the world’s population, with it being grown on every continent except Antarctica.Whilst rice is known to be an important part of our diet, recently published research has shown how…
Plant doctor advice increasing availability of clean banana suckers in Kitema, Uganda
In Uganda the majority of the young people are unemployed, and efforts to create employment opportunities within the agriculture sector are yielding little to no interest among them. Agriculture is not viewed as a viable employment sector, due to the perceptions that agriculture as a profession is labour intensive, results in high crop losses from…
Update: New Pest & Disease Records (04 January 19)
We’ve selected a few of the latest new geographic, host and species records for plant pests and diseases from CAB Abstracts. Records this fortnight include the first report of Fusarium oxysporum as the causal agent of wild saffron corm rot disease in Iran, a report on two new hosts of Prillieuxina winteriana (Ascomycota) and the…
Agricultural pest control by bats in Madagascar
A new study has brought to light how native bat species in Madagascar are playing an important role in the control of agricultural crop pests. If more attention and information was brought to this, zoologists from the University of Cambridge believe that bats could reduce the financial strain on farmers for chemical pesticide use as…
Update: New Pest & Disease Records (20 December 18)
We’ve selected a few of the latest new geographic, host and species records for plant pests and diseases from CAB Abstracts. Records this fortnight include the first report of Polyphagotarsonemus latus in Saudi Arabia. The first report of Rhizoctonia solani from parthenium weed in Malaysia and a report on the Asian walnut moth in Turkey.
Fighting hunger in West Africa with shrubs
Improving food production in drought-prone, insecure areas of West Africa is a major challenge and concern for governments and their respective communities. A new crop management system incorporating the promotion of perennial shrubs may be a key potential solution to such problems.
Plantwise launches in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between CABI and Pakistan’s Agriculture Department Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) to launch the Plantwise programme in the province.
The future for coastal farmers in Bangladesh
A recent study published in Nature Climate Change has suggested that the future global effects of climate change will impact the livelihoods of over 200,000 coastal farmers in Bangladesh as sea levels rise. Flooding of saltwater is already negatively impacting coastal residents in the country as soil conditions alter, causing farmers to either change from…
Update: New Pest & Disease Records (05 November 18)
We’ve selected a few of the latest new geographic, host and species records for plant pests and diseases from CAB Abstracts. Records this fortnight include the first report of Trochoideus desjardinsi in Cuba. 8 new records of Curculionidae in Saudi Arabia and 3 new species of aphids in China.