Plantwise Photo Of The Month- April
To read more about the work Plantwise is doing in Bolivia follow this link. To read Spanish factsheets specific to Bolivia on the Plantwise Knowledge Bank click here.
From Beyonce to Lady Gaga- The Importance of Insect Taxonomy
Taxonomy is the system used to categorise species by defining groups of organisms on the basis of shared characteristics and giving names to those groups. To date, around 1 million insect species have been described, however it is thought that this only represents about 10% of the insect species living on Earth, meaning new species…
Plant clinics in Uganda: First regional plant clinic awareness workshop held in Kabarole
This article is adapted from a post on the Rwenzori Information Centres Network blog. In a bid to create awareness about plant clinics in Uganda, Plantwise organized a one day sensitization workshop at Lesuiex Centre in Kabarole District about improving food security and the lives of smallholder farmers in Uganda. It was also aimed at…
How Mobile Technology is Transforming Livestock Farming In Kenya
Farmers and vets across Africa are increasingly using mobile phones to issue alerts about potential pest and disease outbreaks. The recent introduction of mobile phones that use the open source Android operating system or the iPhone iOS operating system and include GPS and Google Maps have provided new opportunities for developing mobile phone applications, allowing communication…
Improving Food Security Using Agroforestry Schemes
Agroforestry is an integrated system of trees and shrubs and/or crops and livestock within a managed agriculture area and has potential in improving food security in developing countries by fully utilising land, improving crop yields, diversifying farmer income and improving environmental sustainability. Last month the United National Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) published an “Advancing Agroforestry…
Monitoring and Management of Desert Locusts in Africa
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has this month warned that Desert Locust (Schistocerca gregaria) swarms are invading cropping areas of northern Sudan. The swarms originated from winter breeding areas on the Red Sea coastal plains and subcoastal areas in northeast Sudan and southeast Egypt. The situation requires close monitoring as more swarms are…
How The Gates Foundation and Carlos Slim are Supporting Innovation and Crop Improvement For Farmers
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Fundación Carlos Slim have announced a partnership in support of efforts by the Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maíz y Trigo (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center CIMMYT) in Mexico to develop and disseminate higher-yielding, more resilient wheat and maize varieties.
Spot The Difference: Decoy Beetles Created To Manage The Invasive Emerald Ash Borer
The emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) is a beetle native to Asia which was first identified near Detroit, Michigan and Ontario in 2002. It is now a serious invasive pest of North American ash trees in the genus Fraxinus. Emerald ash borer populations are spreading rapidly in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic states of the USA,…
New Type of Invasive Whitefly Recorded In South Africa
A species of whitefly that transmits cassava mosaic virus has been detected in South Africa for the first time. The whitefly, Bemisia tabaci is a cryptic species complex containing some important agricultural pests and virus vectors. The term ‘cryptic species complex’ means that Bemisia tabaci is considered to be a complex of at least 24 different…