Working with women farmers to make Cambodian communities “Plantwise”
Greater involvement of women in plant clinics has improved the climate resilience of the farmers in Rohal Suong village, Cambodia. Women farmers play a critical role in agricultural production and food security, as well as household welfare in most Southeast Asian countries. According to a Census of Agriculture in Cambodia in 2013, of the 82% of…
Plantwise wins the 2017 St Andrews Prize for the Environment
Plantwise, a global programme led by the Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI) which provides smallholder farmers across the world with the knowledge they need to lose less of what they grow to pests and diseases, has won this year’s St Andrews Prize for the Environment, worth $100,000 USD. The Prize is a joint…
The perfect storm – how drought is hitting crops hard
Last year, one of the strongest El Niño events ever recorded caused significant changes to weather patterns around the world. Southern and Eastern Africa were hit particularly hard and suffered some of the worst drought conditions for decades, with as little as a quarter of the expected rainfall in the last few months of the…
Scientists discover new crop-destroying Armyworm is now “spreading rapidly” in Africa
New research announced today by scientists at CABI confirms that a recently introduced crop-destroying armyworm caterpillar is now spreading rapidly across Mainland Africa and could spread to tropical Asia and the Mediterranean in the next few years, becoming a major threat to agricultural trade worldwide.
Agriculture and food security — where are we headed in 2017?
By Lisa Cornish. Reblogged from DEVEX. As climate change impacts the global ability to grow food, both in quality and quantity, researchers in agriculture have become an important asset for establishing long-term food security as the world’s population continues to increase. In December, agriculture and food security researchers visited Canberra for high-level discussions on development…
Sharing experiences of mitigating the impacts of Tuta absoluta
Contributed by Kritika Babbar, CABI India Climate change has emerged as one of the most important environmental, social and economic issues today – especially for South Asia, which is highly impacted by these changes. In light of this, an international conference on Biodiversity, Climate Change Assessment and Impacts on Livelihood (ICBCL) was convened in Kathmandu…
Plant clinic established in Cambodia Climate-Smart Village to address crop pests
By Fiona Emdin. Reblogged from the CGIAR CCFAS blog. Different doctors treat different types of diseases. When the villagers of Rohal Suong in Cambodia feel sick, they can consult a doctor. Now when their crops are sick, they can also go to another doctor, a plant health advisor, who can provide information on the best…
“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…
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…
New initiative to support phytosanitary surveillance
Contributed by Melanie Bateman, CABI As the standard setting organisation for plant health, the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) has long had an active, member driven programme to produce International Phytosanitary Measures (ISPMs). Moving forward, the IPPC is putting more and more emphasis on supporting the implementation of the ISPMs and the Convention itself by…