Three types of training delivering plant health knowledge to Burundi’s farmers
How do you reach millions of farmers with tried-and-tested plant health advice? The answer is to train the plant health advisors. In Burundi, Plantwise has been doing just this. In March 2021, Plantwise started to train plant doctors in Burundi to deliver plant health advice to farmers. And five months later, in August, Plantwise was…
Working with Papua New Guinea to safeguard crop production
Papua New Guinea (PNG) relies on agriculture for income. But a host of plant health problems could put its valuable commodity crops at risk. Protecting high-value crops like cocoa and coffee is essential for safeguarding the country’s future. Agriculture is big business in PNG. It provides 22% of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and…
A more sustainable way for food production
As the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15) is now underway in Montreal, Canada, until 19 December, we take a look at how the CABI BioProtection Portal can contribute towards a more biodiversity-friendly way to produce food and feed our growing planet.
International Day of Plant Health helps highlight CABI’s work to fight devastating crop pests
International Day of Plant Health – recently established by the United Nations and welcomed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) – is a timely reminder of the devastating impact of crop pests, writes Dr Ulli Kuhlmann, PlantwisePlus Programme Executive and Executive Director, Global Operations at CABI.
Webinar: Ozone pollution’s threat to tropical agriculture
Ground-level ozone is one of the most widespread pollutants in the world. Although ozone in the upper atmosphere provides essential protection from the sun’s harmful rays, at ground-level it has a number of harmful effects. Ground-level ozone pollution contributes to climate change, impairs human health and damages vegetation.
Plant clinics: Gender impacts in Zambia
Women are key to the future of agriculture and ending world hunger. Currently, female farmers make up 43% of the global agricultural workforce and play an important role in farming production and improving food security. However, the hurdles women face are real. Women often find it harder than men to access agricultural information, finance and…
Reducing post-harvest losses without the use of chemical treatments
From recent FAO studies, it has been found that over half of the world’s fruit and vegetables are lost due to post-harvest storage losses as a result of pests, diseases and incorrect storage conditions. In a climate where food consumption is at its highest, with many regions of the world suffering from a lack of…
Soil microbiome linked to disease resistance in crops
A recent study has unearthed the mystery of how plant disease resistance is linked to the soil microbiome. This new area of research will open up new possibilities for a more sustainable food production system and help combat global food security threats.
Nigerian farmers embrace technology to combat food insecurity
In Africa’s most populous country, Nigeria, food insecurity is on the rise; almost 8 per cent of the population was found to be undernourished in 2015, compared with 6 per cent in 2007, according to the World Bank’s development indicators.
Update: New Pest & Disease Records (06 September 2019)
We’ve selected a few of the latest new geographic, host and species records for plant pests and diseases from CAB Abstracts. Records this month include a report on a new root-knot nematode parasite on coffee in Vietnam, a report on a new variant of the moth Cyana peregrina Walker in India and a report on…