Update: Plant Health News (27 Mar 13)
Here’s a taste of some of the latest stories about plant health, including work in Uganda to save the Irish Potato in Kabale, Brazil nearing eradication of a major fruit pest, and farmers testing wheat for climate change adaptation. Click on the link to read more of the latest plant health news!
New technology for detecting pests and diseases
by Keron Bascombe, Technology4Agri Much of farm enterprise activity is spent dealing with pests and diseases which significantly lower the yield of produce. For many producers this warrants the use of pesticides of many kinds to deter a wide variety of pests and insects that can either destroy crops or act as vectors that cause…
Update: New Pest & Disease Records (20 Mar 13)
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 an identification and pathogenecity study of Alternaria spp. of tomato and potato, a new species of entomopathogenic nematode from ginger rhizosphere and a risk model of citrus greening infection.
Update: Plant Health News (13 Mar 13)
Here’s a taste of some of the latest stories about plant health, including the development of diagnostics for Cassava Brown Streak Disease (CBSD), a coffee pest spreading to other crops in East Africa and farmers testing wheat crops for climate change adaptation. Click on the link to read more of the latest plant health news!
Update: New Pest & Disease Records (06 Mar 13)
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 the first report of Banana bunchy top virus of Musa spp. in Nigeria, the first record of the leafhopper genus Igerna in China and a new Pythium species that causes severe damping…
How Mobile Technology is Transforming Livestock Farming In Kenya
Farmers and vets across Africa are increasingly using mobile phones to issue alerts about potential pest and disease outbreaks. The recent introduction of mobile phones that use the open source Android operating system or the iPhone iOS operating system and include GPS and Google Maps have provided new opportunities for developing mobile phone applications, allowing communication…
Improving Food Security Using Agroforestry Schemes
Agroforestry is an integrated system of trees and shrubs and/or crops and livestock within a managed agriculture area and has potential in improving food security in developing countries by fully utilising land, improving crop yields, diversifying farmer income and improving environmental sustainability. Last month the United National Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) published an “Advancing Agroforestry…
Update: Plant Health News (27 Feb 13)
Here’s a taste of some of the latest stories about plant health, including an advance in biological control, tips to drain soil, making the land usable and a study to develop strategies against Bollworm resistance to Bt Cotton in China. Click on the link to read more of the latest plant health news!
How The Gates Foundation and Carlos Slim are Supporting Innovation and Crop Improvement For Farmers
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Fundación Carlos Slim have announced a partnership in support of efforts by the Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maíz y Trigo (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center CIMMYT) in Mexico to develop and disseminate higher-yielding, more resilient wheat and maize varieties.