CABI helps Kenyan farmers combat invasive apple snail

invasive apple snail eggs
In 2019, Kenyan farmers first started reporting instances of the invasive apple snail (Pomacea canaliculata) infesting rice paddy nurseries. Thanks to speedy action by the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS) and the Ministry of Agriculture, intervention actions were rolled out across the country. Importantly, these interventions spread awareness of the new invasive pest and…
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Maize Lethal Necrosis Disease – the invasive threatening maize

Maize field
Maize lethal necrosis disease (MLND) was first identified in Peru in 1973. Since then, the disease has spread rapidly to other parts of Latin America and the USA. In Africa, the disease was first reported in Kenya in 2011. By 2014, it had spread to other countries in East Africa including Tanzania, Rwanda, South Sudan,…
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PlantwisePlus: detecting and responding to plant health threats

Dr Ivan Rwomushana
Invasive species specialist Dr Ivan Rwomushana is one of the Global Team Leaders for CABI’s new global PlantwisePlus programme. His role within the programme is to strengthen decision support systems for the detection and response to pest outbreaks and plant health threats.
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These e-Plant Doctors Can Help Solve Farmers’ Crop Woes in Minutes. Here’s How.

Pest alerts
This article was originally published on ‘the better india’ When K Pathi noticed the notorious Fall ArmyWorm attack his corn plants, he didn’t rush to get pesticides. He did something entirely different. When 49-year-old K Pathi, a farmer in Maramadakki village in Pudukkottai district of Tamil Nadu, noticed the notorious Fall ArmyWorm (locally known as…
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Farmers in India use biointensive methods to manage fall armyworm

Close-up of a southern armyworm on a leaf
In mid-2018, presence of the highly invasive fall armyworm (S.frugiperda) was confirmed in Karnataka State, India. Since then, Plantwise and partners have been on the ground working to create awareness among farmers and contributing to the development of safe and effective management of the pest. Under a project funded by the CABI Development Fund (CDF),…
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