Open Letter on Open Data from CABI’s CEO to G8 Delegates
Check out the latest message from CABI’s CEO on revitalising food security challenge through open data. He and other Plantwise reps are reporting live from DC for the G8 Conference on Open Data for Agriculture today and tomorrow. Download pdf of his letter here.
Plantwise talks Open Data at G8 event next week… Join us!
What food security challenge could be solved with open access to data? CABI’s CEO and Plantwise representatives will join DFID, host USDA, and delegates from G8 countries in Washington, D.C. next week, April 29-30, to discuss putting the open exchange of knowledge at the heart of food security and global nutrition. This is your chance to weigh in and participate. Watch the event on the…
Agroecology – benefiting farmers around the world
This week, the UK Minister of State for Agriculture and Food, David Heath, has announced his support for the use of agroecological farming methods which are seen as the foundation of sustainable agriculture. The International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology (IAASTD) define agroecology as “the science and practice of applying ecological concepts and principles…
Update: Plant Health News (24 Apr 13)
Here’s a taste of some of the latest stories about plant health, including the multiple pressures that threaten pollinating insects, microwave technology to prevent pest diffusion and the UN to use the plant gene pool to improve agriculture. Click on the link to read more of the latest plant health news!
Plantwise Uganda to add thirty plant doctors to their pool
Contributed by Jane Frances Asaba and Joseph Mulema, both CABI Africa, and Phil Taylor, CABI Egham-UK Plantwise has been operating in Uganda for 8 years, throughout which progress in setting up plant clinics with partners has been slow but steady. Recently, things are really taking off; extension workers being instructed to attend courses by their superiors, and their role…
Organized and motivated, African plant health leaders take issue in Rome
Participation in the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures (CPM) is much more than just turning up. It needs a good understanding of the technical issues involved, and of the way in which decisions are reached. To be heard, interventions from the floor must be made in the right way at the right time. So to build…
Separating the grains from the chaff, and all the pests that move with it
Contributed by Melanie Bateman, CABI Switzerland, and Roger Day, CABI Africa While responding to a food crisis in Tanzania in the 1970s, evidence indicates that the larger grain borer (Prostephanus truncatus) was inadvertently introduced into Africa through an infested food aid shipment[1]. Following this introduction and a later introduction in West Africa, the larger grain borer…
Update: New Pest & Disease Records (17 Apr 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 the root knot nematode, Meloidogyne inornata, on common bean in Brazil’s Paraná State, Glyphosate-resistant Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) on rice paddy levees in Japan and the first report of…
Plantwise shares impacts of local agricultural advice and partnership building with plant health leaders in Rome
For 350 international delegates and observers attending this week’s annual meeting of the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures (CPM), standards will be adopted on plant protection with far-reaching implications on livelihoods, food security and ecosystems back at home. Plantwise, a development cooperation programme led by CABI which works to improve livelihoods in 31 countries, convened representatives…
Bringing together technical resources to address the spread of plant pests
Julia Dennis reports from this week’s International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) 8th session of the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures (CPM8) in Rome. A side event during lunch on Tuesday provided a demonstration of the www.phytosanitary.info. This website is a database of phytosanitary technical resources contributed by the world’s plant protection community. In 2012, member countries and other partners…