Facing the future of crop protection: officials from across Africa join IPPC, Plantwise and FAO for collaboration on plant health
 For farmers across Africa and around the world, tackling crop pest problems in a safe and sustainable way is a major challenge. Currently between 30-40% of crops on average are lost to pests, and while the technology and knowledge exist to reduce losses, vital plant health information remains out of reach for many farmers. It…
NEXT WEEK: West African workshop with Plantwise, IPPC and FAO in Ghana
Next Tuesday marks the opening ceremony of Plantwise‘s second workshop co-hosted with IPPC in Africa, this time bringing top plant health officials from across West Africa to Accra, Ghana. Over 40 participants from national crop protection in Sierra Leone, Malawi, Zambia and Ghana will convene over 4 days from July 29- August 1 to focus…
Out now… the Plantwise Newsletter for July 2014!
Where do we begin? Plantwise has seen a busy 2014 so far. From Kenya to Costa Rica, there are new partners, plant doctors, and pest-fighting strategies (not to mention pilot mobile activities!) which we are pleased to share with you in this latest newsletter edition. Don’t forget to Guess the Pest at the end. Of…
A plant doctor’s fight against rice blast in Tamil Nadu, India
Story by Malvika Chaudhary, CABI in India Photo: Saurav Paul Vargur is a small village in the Tamil Nadu state of India where paddy is grown on a large scale. The plant clinics in this region are very popular with farmers. For plant doctor Sarangpani it was a usual day, anticipating the regular crowd of paddy farmers in…
Better land care could add US $1.4 Trillion to economy
With over two-thirds of the earth’s land surfaced being used for agricultural production, there is no human activity today which puts more pressure on natural resources. This scidevnet article, reporting from last year’s summit of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification conference in Windhoek, Namibia establishes that it is not only ecologically responsible to promote…
Plantwise in Mozambique launching today
The official launch event today kicks off Plantwise operations in Mozambique. Read full press release here (English/Portuguese)Â and stay tuned for highlights.
A day at the plant clinic in Pucara, Peru
Did you guess Peru in our ‘Guess the clinic‘ challenge? Well you were correct. On the morning of April 22nd , plant doctor and clinic coordinator Flavia Felix Huanca (pictured here) held a plant clinic for local farmers. They brought in samples of their crops which various problems, asking for her advice to diagnose…
Can you guess this plant clinic?
Take a look. Farmers gathered around a plant doctor, resources on the table. Various crops which farmers have brought in for diagnosis and advice. Can you tell us where in the world is this plant clinic located? It’s one of over 700 running worldwide with support of Plantwise and partners, but that is all we’re…
National Geographic Hackathon taps into CABI & Plantwise data
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0ImHk2YwZU&w=560&h=315] Check out this video to hear how CABI contributed to National Geographic’s Future of Food Hackathon in Washington DC last weekend. CABI’s Dr Martin Parr and Dr Timothy Holmes of the Plantwise knowledge bank describe the type of open access data from CABI which was offered to participants of the hackathon, and how these…
First plant doctors trained in Costa Rica
Contributed by E. Chernoh and E. Hidalgo In March 2014, the Plantwise programme was initiated in Costa Rica. Twenty-two extension workers from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG) and the National Plant Health Department (SFE) were trained in Module 1: “How to Become a Plant Doctor- Field Diagnosis and Plant Clinic Operation”. In addition…