Cassava viruses threaten food security
Written by Joao Junior, Plantwise Knowledge Bank Intern. Known as the poor people’s crop, cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is one of the most important subsistence crops in Africa, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and West Africa being consumed fresh, cooked or processed. It is estimated that cassava contributes to nearly 40% of the total daily calories…
“Pest-smart” to climate-smart in Southeast Asia
By Amy Cruz. Reblogged from the CGIAR CCAFS blog. Climate-smart agriculture calls for pest management that controls farm pests and diseases in a way that does not negatively affect ecosystem services and human health. Climate change affects not only farming practices in that extreme events may flatten trees and crops. It also affects the distributions…
Update: New Pest & Disease Records (13 Jul 16)
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 host records for the fruit fly Ceratitis capitata in the state of Pará, Brazil, the presence of Meloidogyne enterolobii on Jalapeño pepper in Sinaloa, Mexico and the first report of…
Plant doctors to the rescue in integrated pest management
By Dyna Eam. Reblogged from the CGIAR CCAFS blog. Farmer representatives and project team members of Rohal Suong Climate-Smart Village in Cambodia learn about rice pest management in light of climate change. Many people attribute floods, droughts and cyclones to climate change and these natural disasters impact greatly on agricultural productivity. But recent scientific evidences…
Surveillance critical to halting deadly tomato pest
By Jackie Opara. Reblogged from SciDev.Net Effective surveillance and integrated pest management could curb the devastating impacts of tomato pest, Tuta absoluta, also called tomato leaf miner, which is ravaging the crop in Nigeria, experts say. T. absoluta has affected most parts of northern Nigeria tomato farms in Kaduna state, causing a loss of more than 1…
ClĂnica de plantas atendiĂł en el DĂa Nacional de ProtecciĂłn de los CĂtricos en Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Puesto de productores de cĂtricos en la feria. FotografĂa de JosĂ© GĂłmez El sábado 18 de junio, se llevĂł a cabo el DĂa Nacional de ProtecciĂłn de los CĂtricos. Esta actividad fue organizada por el Ministerio de Desarrollo Rural y Tierras, y se realizĂł en todos los departamentos del paĂs. El Servicio Nacional de Sanidad Agropecuaria…
New guidelines for addressing highly hazardous pesticides
Written by Melanie Bateman, CABI There are many different ways in which pesticides can potentially cause harm to human health or to the environment. For example, substances which are acutely toxic can knock someone down rather rapidly, with symptoms felt within a short space of time. Chronic toxicity, on the other hand, can lead to…
Farming First and GACSA launch creative partnership to explore “Climate-Smart Agriculture in Action”
Contributed by Farming First One billion farmers all over the world, responsible for growing the food that feeds the planet, are under unprecedented pressure from a changing climate. For eight months in a row now, temperatures have been the highest on record. Food shortages are affecting an estimated 100 million people in the wake of drought…