Plant doctor training improves Rwandan farmers’ access to plant health advice
A six-day Plantwise plant doctor training session took place in Rwanda this March. Funded by CABI, the training aimed to build the capacity of Rwanda Inspectorate, Competition and Consumer Protection Authority (RICA) staff in the diagnosis of crop pest problems, and providing advice to farmers.
Three types of training delivering plant health knowledge to Burundi’s farmers
How do you reach millions of farmers with tried-and-tested plant health advice? The answer is to train the plant health advisors. In Burundi, Plantwise has been doing just this. In March 2021, Plantwise started to train plant doctors in Burundi to deliver plant health advice to farmers. And five months later, in August, Plantwise was…
Plant doctor training: a student’s perspective
Swagata Saikia, a PhD Scholar in Plant Pathology, recently participated in a Plant Doctor training course. Here Swagata talks about her experiences during the course. One fine day, I arrived at the Regional Agricultural Research Station (RARS), Titabor, along with five of my friends for a training course entitled “Becoming a Plant Doctor”. Other PhD students,…
Plantwise Burundi: building extension skills and resources
The role of extension staff in reaching smallholder farmers with relevant agricultural information is key to enabling them to grow more and lose less to crop pests and diseases. The advice given on agricultural practices helps to improve crop quality and yield and to sell agricultural produce for better prices.
Plant doctors help in fight against crop threats in Jammu, India
The role Plantwise plant doctors play in helping smallholder farmers mitigate crop losses due to pests and diseases has been lauded by K.K. Sharma – the Director of Agricultural Production & Welfare Department in Jammu, India.
AI Plant Doctor app launched to help diagnose pests and diseases on dragon fruit crops in Vietnam
A new state-of-the-art mobile application has been launched – available on computers or smartphones – to help smallholder farmers in Vietnam identify pests and diseases which can devastate their dragon fruit crops. Vietnam is the largest producer of dragon fruit in Asia and is the leading exporter of the ‘super fruit’ in the world. According…
New plant doctors in India “monitor the field through a farmer’s eyes”
Launching of Plantwise training in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. With the support of the State Government of Madhya Pradesh, under an RKVY scheme, a 6-day training programme on Plantwise modules was conducted at the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA), Jabalpur, in technical collaboration with CABI.
Including more women in Plantwise Pakistan
With a strong emphasis on making sure gender is embedded within the entire programme, Plantwise Pakistan has been actively pursuing the participation of more women in its activities and implementation. Realising the important role of females in agricultural development and the need to build their own capacity, the Agriculture Department of Punjab nominated 12 female…
Bringing technical support to isolated ethnic groups in the Mosquitia region of Honduras
By Eduardo Hidalgo, Project Scientist, CABI South America The Mosquitia is a territory of 16,997 km², located on the Caribbean coast of Honduras and inhabited mainly by the indigenous Miskito, Tawahka, Pech, and Garífuna ethnic groups. Of the 100,000 inhabitants, 36% are Miskitos who depend mainly on agriculture and fishing. The Mosquitia is one of…
Llevando apoyo técnico a las etnias aisladas de la Mosquitia, Honduras
Por Eduardo Hidalgo La Mosquitia es un territorio de 16.997 km², ubicado en la costa del Caribe de Honduras y habitado principalmente por las etnias indígenas misquita, tawahka, pech y garífuna. La población es de 100,000 habitantes de los cuales el 36% son misquitos y sus principales actividades son la agricultura y la pesca. La…