Update: Plant Health News (10 Sep 14)
Here’s a taste of some of the latest stories about plant health, including some homegrown news of Plantwise data used to study the global spread of crop pests, cassava brown streak disease wreaking havoc in Rwanda, and fireblight hitting Canadian apple orchards hard. Click on the link to read more of the latest plant health…
Workshop held on future of Invasive Species Compendium
The Invasive Species Compendium is a free, open access resource from CABI, providing comprehensive information about thousands of invasive species. It is great news that it has been decided to keep this resource free for at least five more years.
Food for thought: Cocoa farmers from Ivory Coast taste chocolate for the first time
In the past twenty years, the Ivory Coast has produced over 25 million tonnes of cocoa beans; far more than any other country. However, this video suggests that some cocoa farmers might never have seen the end product of the crop they spend their time cultivating. This has implications for the cocoa supply chain: if…
CABI shares knowledge with African universities
Each year, top university representatives from across Africa gather at the RUFORUM conference to learn about new developments in education and exchange ideas for collaboration. This year’s event, held in Maputo, Mozambique, from 21 July – 25 July, was an opportunity for CABI to increase awareness of its knowledge and training resources, especially those made available…
Update: New Pest & Disease Records (9 Jul 14)
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 new rusts on sugarcane in Ecuador and Southern Africa, outbreaks of the whitefly Aleurothrixus aepim in Brazil, and the first report of the fungus Alternaria arborescens causing leaf spot on…
Maize lethal necrosis has spread to Rwanda
Report by Abigail Rumsey, Beatrice Uwumukiza and Bellancila Uzayisenga. In the past two years, we have reported on the presence of the maize lethal necrosis (MLN) disease in East African countries including Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The disease is also present in South Sudan. The most recent report has been of its spread to the…
Plantwise in Suriname
Blog post by Shamela Rambadan and Abigail Rumsey In May last year, discussions began with the Ministry of Agriculture Animal Husbandry and Fisheries (LVV) to start up a Plantwise programme in Suriname. By December, 22 plant doctors had completed Module 1 of the Plantwise ‘How to Become a Plant Doctor’ training course. In January 2014,…
Rising levels of CO2 could exacerbate malnutrition
New research suggests that rising levels of carbon dioxide will not only have a devastating effect on our climate but will lower the nutritional value of many staple crops, increasing deficiencies in iron and zinc.
Managing plant pathogens by enhancing ecosystem services
From the 8th-12th April experts met in Bellagio, Italy to develop a strategy to mitigate the effects emerging plant diseases are having on crops in sub-Saharan Africa. Among these experts were Plantwise staff. A major theme throughout the conference was ecosystem services and how agricultural biodiversity can enhance the provision of these services, creating resilient agro-ecosystems. Click on the…
Invest in prevention: save money, save lives, save livelihoods [Video]
This video from the Food Chain Crisis Management Framework of FAO shows how investing in prevention of pests and diseases before they are present in a region can save money and livelihoods in the long term.