Plant clinics improve food security in Rwanda, says new study
Astonishingly, an estimated 40% of crop loss worldwide can be attributed to pests. This statistic that is especially devastating in developing areas where crops are a source of food, income and livestock feed amongst other uses and could be prevented if methods were available.
Reducing extreme poverty in Rwanda thanks to CABI-led Plantwise plant clinics
New research into the positive impacts the CABI-led Plantwise programme is having has revealed that its plant clinics have helped reduce incidences of extreme poverty in Rwanda by helping farmers fight crop-devastating pests and diseases.
Crop-devastating pests in Rwanda to be targeted with space-age technology from PRISE programme
Pests, which threaten to destroy key cash and food security crops including maize, tomato and beans, are to be prioritized as part of an integrated pest management strategy using state-of-the-art space-age technology. Scores of smallholder farmers in Rwanda are the latest to benefit from the CABI-led consortium, funded by the UK Space Agency and the Global Challenges Research…
Investing in smallholder farmers for a food-secure future
Smallholder farmers provide the vast majority of the world’s food supply, and ‘small-scale farming’ is the largest occupation group of economically active people, 43% of which are women. Approximately 2 billion of the world’s poorest live in households that depend on agriculture in some form for their livelihoods, whether this is for market or subsistence.…
The chicken or the egg?
“I started with just 100 chickens”, begins Mr Jean Claude Ruzibiza. He goes on to explain how from small beginnings he has now become Managing Director of Rwanda Best, a farm producing 4,500 eggs a day and growing fruit and veg to satisfy a significant part of nearby Kigali’s hungry population. With malnutrition in the world…
Agricultural innovation framework agreed in Rwanda
Contributed by Rachel Winks, CABI. The partner organisations of the Tropical Agriculture Platform (TAP) met in Kigali, Rwanda, on 19-21 January to agree a new concept for agricultural innovation: the common framework on capacity development for agricultural innovation systems. With growing global population and increased food demand, agricultural innovation can help improve food security, increase…
Update: Plant Health News (25 Feb 15)
Here’s a taste of some of the latest stories about plant health, including the Giant African land snails invading Cuba, the debate over GM bananas in Uganda and a new report from the World Food Programme on connecting farmers to markets. Click on the link to read more of the latest plant health news!
Maize lethal necrosis has spread to Rwanda
Report by Abigail Rumsey, Beatrice Uwumukiza and Bellancila Uzayisenga. In the past two years, we have reported on the presence of the maize lethal necrosis (MLN) disease in East African countries including Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The disease is also present in South Sudan. The most recent report has been of its spread to the…
New Video: The first IPPC & Plantwise Workshop, Nairobi, Kenya
Plant health stakeholders from across East Africa met in Nairobi for the first ever workshop hosted by the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) Secretariat and Plantwise. Watch as attendees exchange national experiences in plant protection using resources from Plantwise and the IPPC in the process. They renew strategies for greater coordination on plant health, face…
Plant Health Rallies: Giving Rwandan agronomists the tools to inform the public
In November 2013, three members of the CABI Plantwise team (Dr Noah Phiri and Peter Karanja of the Nairobi office, and Julien Lamontagne-Godwin of the UK office) visited Musanze in the Northern zone of Rwanda. 12 participants from the Rwanda Agricultural Board (RAB) were trained in techniques to inform the surrounding rural communities on serious…