Machine Learning within the Agriculture Aid Sector

Artificial intelligence (AI) is being used all around us in our personal and professional lives. With constant improvements to technologies and the data science driving these developments, we are now seeing a world where it is common to see AI in some form in everyday life. One such area of AI which is being utilised…
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Being Data-Driven: A New Approach to Decision Making

With many areas of our day-to-day lives becoming digital, from how we communicate to the exposure of previously trapped knowledge across geographic and social boundaries, it is not a surprise that the agricultural sector is also shifting to digital platforms. As such, the adoption of good digital practices at a global scale is important for…
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Digital sustainability: Plantwise tools supporting smallholder farmers

Plant doctor in Malawi using a tablet to share information with a farmer
Digitalisation is a globally occurring process of converting information and systems into a digital form. This shift in the way we use technology to support our lives is due to the improved technologies which allow us to be more strategic, time and cost efficient, reach more people easily and improve commercial properties. Much of the…
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Nuru AI expansion: Supporting farmers to diagnose crop diseases

An extension grant has been awarded to the PlantVillage Nuru project, developing an artificial-intelligence-based solution for the identification and diagnosis of crop diseases targeting smallholder farmers. Under the Inspire Challenge programme, the international research consortium CGIAR has awarded the project a $250,000 grant to scale-up and expand its activities to a global level. Until now…
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PRISE project supporting Plant Doctor training in Malawi

In early December 2019, the Pest Risk Information Service (PRISE) project ran a series of workshops across Malawi to engage with Plantwise Plant Doctors on new pest risk forecast bulletins as well as to provide pest identification training to all Plantwise extension workers.
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Reducing post-harvest losses without the use of chemical treatments

From recent FAO studies, it has been found that over half of the world’s fruit and vegetables are lost due to post-harvest storage losses as a result of pests, diseases and incorrect storage conditions. In a climate where food consumption is at its highest, with many regions of the world suffering from a lack of…
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Improving water storage capacity in low-quality soils in sub-Saharan Africa

A recent study published by an international team of researchers has demonstrated how the use of novel water storage technology can improve soil conditions and promote crop production in low-quality sandy soil areas.
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Soil microbiome linked to disease resistance in crops

A recent study has unearthed the mystery of how plant disease resistance is linked to the soil microbiome. This new area of research will open up new possibilities for a more sustainable food production system and help combat global food security threats.
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Update: New Pest & Disease Records (09 October 2019)

Brown weevil on green leaf
We’ve selected a few of the latest new geographic, host and species records for plant pests and diseases from CAB Abstracts. Records this month include reports on a new Pseudococcidae species on Monterey cypress in Tunisia, the first record of Phenacoccus madeirensis mealybug in Algeria and two new species of weevil in the Philippines.
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Indian NGO supports farmers by using greenhouse agriculture

In the south Indian region of Hyderabad, a non-profit called Kheyti has developed an affordable solution to income stability and climate-resilient crop production for smallholder farmers and SMEs (small and medium enterprises) – greenhouses. The organisation founders spent countless hours meeting with Indian farmers to understand the range of issues threatening farming communities. “When we…
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