Call for content: Knowledge Bank factsheets

The Plantwise Knowledge Bank is a gateway to practical online and offline plant health information, and reinfocing agricultural advisory services around the world that provide plant health advice to farmers. It includes diagnostic resources, best-practice pest management advice and plant clinic data analysis for targeted crop protection.
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Diverse user testing groups critical for downloads and sustained usage of agricultural apps

For poor, rural communities, agriculture is seen as a pathway out of poverty and when considering agricultural development, we often look to digital solutions; ICT for development. But how much are these technologies taken up and more importantly, actually used by their target end users? In a recent paper, published in Journal of Agricultural &…
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How can tomato farming be improved in Kenya? Study finds producers face a ‘myriad of constraints’

Extension worker speaks with Masai men about their crops
In a recently published paper in Scientific African, CABI’s Willis Ochilo led on a study which captured a better understanding of tomato producers in Kenya, describing in detail the production practices in order to identify challenges and opportunities for increasing tomato productivity for the country’s smallholder communities. Tomato is a good source of vitamins A…
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Female farmers and extension workers should take the lead in reducing gender inequality in agriculture

woman making bundles of wheat
A CABI-led study which compares male and female perceptions of access to and use of agricultural advisory services to help improve yields says women should take a lead role in helping to reduce inequalities which hinder their contribution to farming. Julien Lamontagne-Godwin, lead author of a new paper, published open access in the Journal of Agricultural Education…
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Does gender affect how farmers use rural advisory services?

In an article recently published in The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension, CABI authors set out to discover more about gender differences in access to rural agricultural information. The research was undertaken in Pakistan and found major gender differences regarding use and preference of agricultural information in relation age and literacy.
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How does communication and its technical content shape farmer responses to plant clinic advice?

A recent study led by CABI and published in International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability, explores how communication and its technical content shape farmers’ response to advice delivered at plant clinics. How willing were farmers to accept or reject the technologies recommended at plant clinic consultations? And what were the reasons? The research was carried out…
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