Something to be optimistic about this World Food Day

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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…
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Watch the new Knowledge Bank demo

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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…
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Landmark climate change report will bring new concerns for food security

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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…
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Warming Climate Marches Pests and Pathogens Polewards

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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…
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Could Food Insecure Africa Have Found a Saviour in Farming God’s Way?

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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…
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Video Interview with Sierra Leone’s Minister of Agriculture

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzwblzjR2pA&w=560&h=315] Recently Melanie Bateman of CABI Switzerland and Dr IMO Shamie, Sierra Leone’s Director of Crops and Plantwise National Coordinator, had the unique opporunity to sit down for a meeting with Sierra Leone’s Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security, Dr Joseph Sam Sesay. During the meeting, Dr Sesay told his story of being the first…
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Black Rot Disease Hits Uganda

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Vegetable farmers in the Kayunga and Mukono districts of Uganda are reporting crop losses due to black rot disease. One farmer, Twaha Kahooza of Kyampisi village, Kayunga Sub-county, says he had planted four acres of cabbages and was expecting about Shs18m (about £4,500 or US$7,000) from the harvest, however he only managed to get Shs5m…
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Top tweets from G8 Open Data for Agriculture – Day 2

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With a successful first day at the G8 conference wrapped up, and hundreds of tweets posted with ideas for how open data can contribute to increased food security, Day 2 kicked off with Dr Kathryn Sullivan from NOAA welcoming the delegates, and a session on ‘What Does Open Data Look Like?’ chaired by Prof Tim…
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Top tweets from G8 Open Data for Agriculture – Day 1

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Delegates from around the world are convening in Washington D.C. this week at the G8 conference on Open Data for Agriculture. The goal of the conference is to: “Obtain commitment and action from nations and relevant stakeholders to promote policies and invest in projects that open access to publicly funded global agriculturally relevant data streams,…
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Plantwise talks Open Data at G8 event next week… Join us!

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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…
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