Changing farmer perceptions using radio campaigns in Malawi
In Kalilangwe village in the Nkhotankota district of Malawi we meet Everess Chilchungu, Cyrial Mangochi, Brighton and Agness Mzama – farmers from the Choma radio group who have been listening to the ‘Cassava Plant doctor on air’ show. After a warm reception they share their experiences from listening to the Cassava radio programmes, highlighting challenges…
Calibration is the key
Do farmers know how to calibrate their sprayer so they are mixing the right amount of pesticide with water to spray their crops? When we asked the Basooka Kwavula farmer group from Wakiso district in Central Uganda, we found that not many of them do. They all saw the process as complicated and even if…
Tune in to the Cassava show
Last week in the Nkhotakota region of Malawi a new radio show went on air. Not a news programme or a music show, but a show devoted to Cassava. Sounds pretty specific? Well, it’s even more focussed than that. The weekly 30 minute programme is actually focussed on managing one of Cassava’s most damaging diseases…
A greater role for educational animation in extension?
Blog contributed by Nick Quist Nathaniels, Independent Consultant, Denmark Computer animations are a rather special and exciting communication medium. For example, they can be used to illustrate the basic biology of pests and diseases and explain control measures. Animations are also an effective way to show changes that occur over a long time or at the…
Making the most of the knowledge bank: super searching
In the first post in this series about making the most of the Plantwise knowledge bank , we wrote about how to effectively search for content. I’m now here to tell you that we’d barely scratched the surface of smart searching! In this post we will delve further into effective searching, covering Boolean searches, word…
Update: New Pest & Disease Records (07 Sep 16)
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 a new insect pest, Cyrtozemia dispar, on peanut in India, the presence of the entomopathogenic fungus Pandora neoaphidis in Argentina and the first record of Tuta absoluta in Tanzania.
Making the most of the knowledge bank: which pests are in your country?
This is the fourth instalment in our series on the Plantwise knowledge bank in which we hope to demystify some of the key aspects of the knowledge bank. This week we’re focusing on pest and disease distribution. When accessing the knowledge bank for the first time, it is advisable to select the country or region…
Making the most of the knowledge bank: top tools and information
Welcome to the third in our series on making the most of the knowledge bank. This time we turn our attention to a section of the knowledge bank which contains a huge amount of valuable information but that is all too often overlooked – the Links to useful information and tools. This is which is where you’ll…
Making the most of the knowledge bank: begin booklet building!
In the latest on our series on making the most of the Plantwise knowledge bank, we turn our focus to the Booklet Builder which lets you compile a custom set of Plantwise factsheets and Pest Management Decision Guides (PMDGs) into one booklet, or create a booklet of content written in your country at the click of a…
Making the most of the knowledge bank: 5 tips for smart searching
In the first of our series of blogs on ‘Making the most of the knowledge bank’, we dive straight in to the deep end with the site search! The search bar, found in the top right of all pages, allows you to search all content on the knowledge bank and browse the information in one easy…