Shifting gears: expansion of e-plant clinics in Kenya
“No matter where you’re from, your dreams are valid!” Passionate words spoken in 2014 during an indelible Oscar moment. The utterance of these words, coupled with the winning of an Academy Award, announced Lupita Nyong’o’s entry into the global stage. Two years later in Lupita’s country of origin, Kenya, long-held dreams in the plant health…
Plantwise Initiative Equips Farmers with Knowledge in Zambia
Article by Dorcas Kabuya Chaaba- NAIS A small-scale farmer in Chilanga District, Moses Banda has seriously taken up vegetable production. Mr Banda commends Government for its continued support in assisting farmers in addressing crop problems and how best to control them organically. “My vegetables always had holes due to Sefasefa (Diamond Back Moth) and all…
Plantwise-Farmer Field Schools; Synergies in Mozambique
Blog contributed by Martin Kimani (CABI) and Lito Malia (Plantwise National Coordinator, Mozambique) According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Farmer field schools (FFS) are essentially schools without walls that introduce new technological innovations while building on indigenous knowledge. In FFS, farmers are the experts. At a recently held FFS stakeholder and donor forum…
Bridging the Agricultural Extension gap through Plant Health Rallies in Uganda
Article published in the Agribusiness Digest, Uganda
Plant Health Rallies Launched in Zambia
Blog written by Dorcas Kabuya Chaaba-National Agricultural Information Services,Zambia Rallies are commonly associated with politics, a time when politicians present their ideologies to the electorates in a bid to win votes. But this time around, officers from the Ministry of Agriculture and livestock implementing the Plantwise initiative in Zambia held plant health rallies with farmers…
Healing Plants to Feed a Nation
Growing up in a small village in Western Kenya, I often accompanied my mother and other village women on customary weeding expeditions. Whenever we came across sick plants in the fields—which was all too often—my mother would instruct me to pull them out and cast them aside. I did as she asked, but wondered to…
Farmer Field Day training in Malawi
On Tuesday, June 3rd, Land O’Lakes held another in a series of Farmer Field Day training events at one of their signature Answer Plot® sites, known locally as Yankho Plot™ sites in Malawi. This farmer training event was held in Salima district, Malawi, on a plot planted with several varieties of rice. On this day,…
Introducing APHLIS: The African Postharvet Losses Information System
Plantwise have recently been investigating APHLIS data, a great source of information on postharvest losses in Sub-Saharan Africa. The system is run by a network of local experts who collect and supply data. Using a shared database and a Losses Calculator APHLIS provide estimates of weight losses for cereal grains at a national and provincial…