Sowing seeds of sustainability in Achuapa, Nicaragua
The Cooperative Juan Francisco Paz Silva (JFPS), which was founded in 1990, began operating a plant clinic in 2009. The cooperative was looking for a way to provide technical support to its member farmers, and the plant clinic provided a means to do so. Initially, two technicians, Oscar Calderon and Harold Espinoza, were trained as…
The many P’s of partnership
Peace, partnerships, projects, production, perspectives, participation and passion to name just a few. These were all squeezed into a side event at CFS44, organised by CABI, entitled ‘How Cross-Sectoral Partnerships Help Smallholders Deliver a More Food Secure Future‘.
How ICTs are key to Plantwise's sustainability
The Plantwise programme has expanded in terms of its plant clinic network, the number of countries involved and the number of farmers reached since its launch in 2011. This expansion has been facilitated to a significant extent by an ICT infrastructure, i.e. the Knowledge Bank and e-plant clinics (plant clinics equipped with tablets). Mozambique, Nepal, Malawi, Nicaragua…
Al Jazeera visits plant clinics in Nepal
Al Jazeera correspondent Gelareh Darabi recently travelled to Nepal for the broadcaster’s Earthrise programme, to see how plant clinics in Pokhara are helping farmers deal with crop pests such as tuta absoluta. Visit the Al Jazeera website to read the related article→
E-plant clinics rolled out in Jammu, India
Last year Plantwise launched in Jammu & Kashmir state, India, with the establishment of 15 plant clinics across 3 districts in the Jammu region. This year sees the launch of an exciting new development, with the roll-out of e-plant clinics to revolutionize the extension system and support the quick transfer of information and advice to…
Working with AgriMedia to address climate change in Vietnam
In the busy streets of Hanoi, history was made last month. CABI Southeast Asia (CABI-SEA) signed a memorandum of understanding with Agricultural Multimedia Joint Stock Company (AgriMedia) – a private company working in the field of agriculture. As a pioneer in M2M applications in agriculture, AgriMedia was established in 2014 and aims to provide a…
How tablets are transforming Nepal’s plant clinics
I meet Man Bahadur Chhetri and his assistant on a bright Sunday morning as they are setting up the e-plant clinic in Gorkana, on the outskirts of Kathmandu. On the drive over, I saw plenty of maize being grown on smallholder plots and, here and there, tomatoes in polytunnels. Around the corner from the clinic,…
Latest Plantwise newsletter out now
Looking for something to read over the weekend? The latest Plantwise newsletter has just been published, featuring stories about the programme from around the world. The big headline for this edition is that our work has recently been recognised with two major awards: the $100,000 St Andrews Prize for the Environment and the Bond International…
Plant Clinics and Farm Visits Diagnosing Fall Armyworm in Malawi
Mr. Guze Kampinga visits the plant clinic at Dowa Turn Off with his damaged maize samples and is received by Mrs Eluby Phiri a trained plant doctor. “I have grown about 0.8 ha of rain-fed and 0.4ha irrigated maize (Ndimba). This year a strange pest has seriously damaged my maize and almost all people in…
Plantwise wins the 2017 St Andrews Prize for the Environment
Plantwise, a global programme led by the Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI) which provides smallholder farmers across the world with the knowledge they need to lose less of what they grow to pests and diseases, has won this year’s St Andrews Prize for the Environment, worth $100,000 USD. The Prize is a joint…