Soil health: why it’s important and how to protect it
This blog was originally uploaded on the CABI BioProtection Portal Soil is the foundation of agriculture and sustains life on earth by providing nutrients, clean air and water. Human activities can damage soil health and, therefore, impact entire ecosystems. Sustainable farming and gardening practices like biological crop protection and Integrated Pest Management, however, protect and…
Trichogramma mass rearing facilities piloted in Pakistan
Championing sustainable agriculture by promoting lower-risk plant protection solutions to tackle crop health challenges is a key objective of CABI’s PlantwisePlus programme. In particular, the managing of plant pests and diseases. A cornerstone of this work is setting up local facilities for the mass rearing of lower-risk plant protection solutions.
Integrated Pest Management upskilling initiative benefits wider community in Nakuru, Kenya
Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is one of the tools for low-pesticide-input pest management. In the heart of Kenya’s Nakuru County, a PlantwisePlus initiative is underway. It aims to upskill and support women and young people to initiate agribusinesses that champion low-risk pest control products and practices. These micro-businesses provide employment for the trainees, while farmers…
Training Kenya’s young farmers and women to help ensure greater food security
The theme for this year’s United Nations World Youth Skills Day was ‘Skilling teachers, trainers and youth for a transformative future.’
Why plant health matters
Why is plant health so important? Plants account for 80% of what we eat and 98% of the oxygen we breathe. They are essential for food security and a healthy world. Better plant health could help end hunger, alleviate poverty, protect biodiversity, and boost economic development. Yet, our planet’s plant health is under threat.
Integrated rodent management: rice production
Rodents are a particularly challenging pest in the rice production industry as they are a problem all the way from sowing to harvest. The rice field rat (Rattus argentiventer) causes average losses of 10-20% in rice growing areas. Ranking as the most important non-weed pest in Indonesia for 15 years up until 2000. Integrated Pest…
Integrated pest management (IPM): managing crops with natural solutions
This article was originally published on the CABI BioProtection Portal blog. Visit the original blog post here. Integrated pest management (IPM) is an environmentally friendly approach to managing crops. “IPM is the careful consideration of all available pest control techniques”, the FAO describes on its website. Integrated pest management includes implementing various biological, chemical, physical and crop specific (cultural) techniques. This…
Plant doctors: fighting crop pests through integrated pest management
The increase in devastating crop pests, such as the fall armyworm and tomato pinworm, has led to a growth in pesticide use among smallholder farmers. The lack of product knowledge and safety awareness means there is a widespread tendency not to adhere to safety precautions.
Benefit from free access to Crop Pest Management Course
Pests and diseases are among greatest challenges to food security. Around 40% of crops worldwide are lost to pests – putting the livelihoods of millions of smallholder farmers and global food security at risk. CABI is helping to mitigate these challenges through strengthening expertise of agricultural workforce in plant health and Integrated Pest Management (IPM)…
Integrated pest management practices bring more than $12 billion to the developing world
This article was originally published by Virginia Tech Daily The implementation of integrated pest management strategies is improving livelihoods and bringing billions of dollars in economic benefits to developing nations. That’s according to findings of a review published recently by Virginia Tech researchers George Norton, Muni Muniappan, and Jeff Alwang and researcher Menale Kassie from…