How Jamaica is supporting young people in agriculture

“At first, I don’t think he wanted us in farming. He more wanted a nurse, or a flight attendant, or something like that.” Justine is a young farmer in Jamaica who initially faced resistance from her father. She and her siblings are now preparing to take over the family farm.
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“Plant clinics help me continue to support my family through farming.” Meet Joyce, a farmer from Malawi

Mayi Joyce Vito is a middle-aged woman with a one-acre farm in Nanjiri, Lilongwe, Malawi. She grows groundnuts, maize and occasionally, cassava. She also has a piece of dambo land where she grows vegetables and has a number of banana trees. Nanjiri is one of the areas in Lilongwe which is regarded as a ‘food…
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More than advice: farmers say paid-for extension must provide a “bundle of services”

Chinyunyu Plant Clinic in Rufunsa district, Zambia.
Agricultural advisory services are a critical factor to promoting agricultural development, and investments in extension services are potentially important tools for improving agricultural productivity and increasing farmers’ incomes, two desirable outcomes of food security and poverty reduction articulated in MDGs and SDGs.
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In Thiruvaiyaru, plant clinics are “a source of inspiration to do agriculture with clarity, confidence and interest.”

Since 2012, farmers in Thiruvaiyaru block, Thanjavur district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India, have had been using Plantwise plant clinics to help solve problems with pests and diseases. The programme there is run by the M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) in collaboration with Plantwise. Agriculture is the primary livelihood of 70% of…
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Plantwise helps with managing the invasive Fall Armyworm in Vietnam

A plant doctor inspects a farmer's damaged maize crop in Vietnam
During a recent visit to a plant clinic session in Vinh Phuc, Vietnam, first-hand evidence of this devastating invasive pest was shown to visiting CABI staff. A 76-year-old farmer, Madam Nguyen Thi Nam brought along damaged maize plant to seek advice from the plant doctor, Mrs Dang Thi Quynh Nga.
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Farmers in Malawi fund first purpose-built permanent plant clinic to fight pests and diseases

Brick-built Malawi clinic
A group of farmers in Ntcheu district, Central Malawi, have clubbed together to fund the first purpose-built permanent plant clinic to help fight a range of crop-devastating pests and diseases that threaten their livelihoods and food security. Pengapenga Plant Clinic, which previously operated under a tree in the market place, is now providing a more…
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Plantwise successes revealed in Impact Story Competition

The successes of smallholder farmers in Nepal, Uganda and Kenya – thanks to help from CABI – have become the focus of the Plantwise Impact Story Competition won by three extension workers who helped them combat crop pests and diseases. Debraj Adhikari, a Senior Plant Protection Officer from Nepal, plant doctor Mubunga Joshua from Uganda…
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El Puesto para Plantas de Achuapa, Nicaragua ayuda a mantener la producción de ajonjolí

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Por Solveig Danielsen, Luis Medina, Patricia Castillo y Eduardo Hidalgo El ajonjolí es un cultivo de mucha importancia socioeconómica para los pequeños productores de la franja del pacífico de Nicaragua. Desde principio de los años 90, la Cooperativa Juan Francisco Paz Silva produce y procesa ajonjolí para la exportación de aceite a Estados Unidos, Inglaterra…
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The Achuapa plant clinic helps to maintain sesame yields in Nicaragua

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By Solveig Danielsen, Luis Medina, Patricia Castillo and Eduardo Hidalgo Sesame is a crop of great socioeconomic importance for smallholder farmers of the pacific region of Nicaragua. Since the early 90s, the Juan Francisco Paz Silva Cooperative has produced sesame oil, mainly for export to the United States, England and Japan.
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“Our crops have answers”

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Kanyumbu village is a compact rural farming village in Lilongwe district in Malawi. Farmers in this village mostly produce maize, beans, and mangoes from a few trees scattered in their fields. In 2013, they received a new service from the Department of Agriculture; a plant clinic, with a plant doctor. They were informed that they…
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