Crop diversification finds home for ‘orphan crops’
The term ‘orphan crops’ refers to plant species and varieties that of recent decades have been ignored by governments, seed companies and scientists due to their limited importance in global markets. Instead, only a few major staples have been of interest. From fruits and vegetables to grains and nuts, many orphan crops are highly nutritious,…
Plantwise 2013 Highlights
As we move into the New Year and all that 2014 has to offer it seems like a good time to review some of the achievements of 2013. Here are a few of the Plantwise highlights of 2013!
2014: The International Year of Family Farming
Plantwise welcomes a new year with a renewed focus: ‘The International Year of Family Farming’ has begun. The UN General Assembly declared 2014 as the official year to draw attention to policy and practices which support livelihoods of smallholder farmers worldwide. That means this year is dedicated to the 2 billion+ people who depend on…
Plantwise Malawi Officially Launched
Contributed by Roger Day and Noah Phiri, CABI in Africa [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dApT6tvehT4&w=560&h=315] Top national agricultural officials and CABI representatives gathered in Malawi recently to officially kick-off Plantwise operations, marking a new chapter for plant health development in the country. With one small snip, Dr Wilfred Lipita cut the ribbon to officially launch the programme. Dr Lipita…
CABI takes home NEF Award for Innovation with Plantwise
INSTITUTE OF DIRECTORS, LONDON- On Thursday 5 December, CABI received an Innovation Award at the 10th annual National Engineering Foundation (NEF) Innovisions Conference, in recognition for its landmark global food security programme, Plantwise. Hosted by NEF and presenters from the BBC, the Innovation Awards were established to celebrate ‘game-changers’ proven to be the very best…
Something to be optimistic about this World Food Day
Today, October 16th, marks the internationally-recognized World Food Day. Around the world, events and media coverage draw awareness to the fact that for over 870 million people, hunger is still a defining daily issue. This figure, though still severe, has fallen one third in the past two decades. Progress is certainly being made, though maybe…
Watch the new Knowledge Bank demo
http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP6FzVJvb7o&feature=youtu.be Check out the latest video demo featuring highlights of the new Plantwise Knowledge Bank version 2.1. New translation capabilities and offline content delivery make the knowledge bank a shared resource for even more people in more communities worldwide. Regional pages focus on plant health problems that cross national boarders, and improved search and diagnostic…
Landmark climate change report will bring new concerns for food security
Tomorrow, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will release its fifth global warming report predicting indicators of climate change for the coming years. The expectation is that the temperature is set to increase even more dramatically than the last report predicted in 2007, causing a domino effect on weather conditions, oceanic trends and the multitude of ecosystems which…
Warming Climate Marches Pests and Pathogens Polewards
The distribution of plant pests and pathogens has been observed to be moving away from the equator towards the North and South poles and inhabit areas previously too cold for their existence. This threatens to increase the percentage of crops lost annually to pests and pathogens and subsequently raises major concerns over global food security. A…
Could Food Insecure Africa Have Found a Saviour in Farming God’s Way?
Proponents term it the long awaited messiah that food-insecure Africa has been yearning for! ‘Farming God’s way’ promises to end fertilizer woes of resource-poor farmers in the continent by providing a cheaper and less labour intensive farming method. Food security remains the number one major challenge that citizens across the African continent contend with. While…