Using the Plantwise training modules and approach to strengthen the curriculum at UCATSE
UCATSE (Universidad CatĂłlica Agropecuario del TrĂłpico Seco) is a private university with state funding that began operating a plant clinic under the Global Plant Clinic (GPC) initiative in 2005. With the start of the Plantwise programme in Nicaragua in 2012, UCATSE incorporated student participation into the plant clinic by adopting the plant clinic approach and…
Una clĂnica para plantas vinculada a la investigaciĂłn y enseñanza Mairana, Bolivia
En el 2009 la GobernaciĂłn de Santa Cruz, a travĂ©s del DirecciĂłn de Sanidad Agroalimentaria (DSA), invitĂł a TelĂ©maco Orquera, un ingeniero agrĂłnomo de Mairana, Santa Cruz, Bolivia, a asistir a un curso de capacitaciĂłn en la ciudad de Santa Cruz. A travĂ©s del curso, el primero de varios enseñados por CABI, TelĂ©maco apreciĂł que…
A plant clinic linked to research and teaching in Mairana, Bolivia
In 2009 the Government of Santa Cruz, through the Directorate of Agricultural and Food Health (DSA), invited TelĂ©maco Orquera, an agronomist in Mairana, Bolivia, to attend a training course in the city of Santa Cruz. The course, the first of several taught by CABI, introduced TelĂ©maco to plant clinics, which meant setting up a table…
Más que un microscopio: El laboratorio de plantas en Comarapa, Bolivia
Ladiplantas (Laboratorio de Plantas) que se ubica en el pueblo agrĂcola de Comarapa, en los cálidos valles andinos de Bolivia, está bien integrado a la comunidad local. Ladiplantas es manejado por la Ing. Olivia Antezana, como parte del Centro de InvestigaciĂłn AgrĂcola Tropical (CIAT), de la GobernaciĂłn del Departamento de Santa Cruz, desde el 2000…
Diagnostics in action: A proactive plant laboratory in Comarapa, Bolivia
Ladiplantas (Plant Laboratory) in the agro-town of Comarapa, in Bolivia’s low Andean Valleys, is well integrated into the farming community. Ladiplantas is run by agronomist Olivia Antezana, as part of CIAT (Research Centre for Tropical Agriculture), of the Departmental government of Santa Cruz, since 2000 (Bentley and Boa 2004). CIAT is one of the three…
Data democracy: a new age
The power of data over our lives is hard to overestimate. It governs how we understand and interact with the modern world, how it is measured and controlled. So, what is being done to utilise open data for global food security and nutrition?
Suspected pesticide poisoning in India highlights importance of PPE
On 5th October, the BBC reported that at least 50 farmers have died in the western state of Mharashtra, India, since July, due to suspected accidental pesticide poisoning (see the full article on the BBC website). Nineteen of these deaths were reported from Yavatmal district, a major cotton growing area, where farmers use a variety…
The many P’s of partnership
Peace, partnerships, projects, production, perspectives, participation and passion to name just a few. These were all squeezed into a side event at CFS44, organised by CABI, entitled ‘How Cross-Sectoral Partnerships Help Smallholders Deliver a More Food Secure Future‘.
At loggerheads over agroforestry
Everyone knows forests are home to a wealth of biodiversity, with the Amazon alone hosting a quarter of global biodiversity. It is also now well established that diversity in crop production increases a farmer’s resilience to environmental stresses and shocks – from extreme weather to pests. In terms of ending poverty, food insecurity and environmental degradation,…
The chicken or the egg?
“I started with just 100 chickens”, begins Mr Jean Claude Ruzibiza. He goes on to explain how from small beginnings he has now become Managing Director of Rwanda Best, a farm producing 4,500 eggs a day and growing fruit and veg to satisfy a significant part of nearby Kigali’s hungry population. With malnutrition in the world…