Agriculture

Exploring the “art” in “climate-smart”

hongtwuLeave a comment

Originally published on CGIAR CCAFS

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Students showed their art works after a drawing contest in Tra Hat Climate-Smart Village. The contest showed that even at a young age, students can visualize their understanding of climate change issues. 

Art has a place in climate discussions. Children, who are usually deemed too young to understand complex topics such as climate change must be involved as well. 

A campaign with the theme “Climate Change: Youth Can Do Something” was organized on 7 October 2018 in Tra Hat Climate-Smart Village (CSV) in Vietnam by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security in Southeast Asia (CCAFS SEA) to enhance the youth sector’s understanding of climate change issues and enable them to visualize their learnings through their own drawings.

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Test your plant health knowledge with the plant doctor quiz

Donna HutchinsonLeave a comment

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>> Latest quiz just added

Plantwise plant doctors are at the heart of our plant clinic network providing advice and information to farmers, logging their data for the Plantwise Knowledge Bank, and always adapting to new outbreaks and technologies.

Think you’ve got what it takes to be a plant doctor? Take our online quiz and find out! Continue reading →

Biopiracy: The misuse of patenting systems at the disadvantage of local communities

Will HollandLeave a comment
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Due to the increasing need for novel, untapped resources (biological and chemical), many research developments are looking at previously untouched and rural regions as a source for these new resources (© Pexels)

In the search for new bioresources in increasingly remote and rural regions, researchers will use the traditional knowledge of local communities to support their search for new, untapped plants, animals or chemical compounds. The ethical (and sometimes political) issues surrounding this come when this knowledge is used without permission, and exploits the local community’s assistance and culture for commercial gain. This is called biopiracy.

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Phone app set to transform how low-income farmers in Africa invest in fertilizer

Wayne ColesLeave a comment

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An upgrade to a mobile phone app now offers farmers across Africa even more benefits and cutting-edge fertilizer use technology. This will help farmers to grow healthier, more productive with increasingly profitable crops, as a result of more informed use of how small amounts of fertilizer impact the crops which they grow.

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Update: New Pest & Disease Records (05 March 2019)

Will Holland1 Comment
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This month’s pest alerts contains the first report of the pest Urentius euonymus on Althea in Turkey (© Pexels)

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 report on a new pest on Althea in Turkey, a new species of longhorn beetle (Cerambycidae) in Albania and the first report of Angarus as an egg parasitoid of the banana lacewing bug (Stephanitis typica). Continue reading →

“Work hard and always try to give your best – no matter what people say”

Wayne ColesLeave a comment
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Dr Yelitza Colmenarez – proud to have received the award of ‘Scientist of the Year’ in 2008 given by the Ministry of Agriculture in Barbados

In honour of International Women’s Day, Dr Yelitza Colmenarez, Plantwise Regional Coordinator for Latin America and Caribbean and Country Director of CABI Brazil, reveals the motivation and inspiration behind her career in science communications and says her mother and grandfather’s advice has helped her overcome barriers faced as a professional woman.

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