Study briefs: PlantwisePlus supports Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka achieve climate and agricultural goals
CABI has published three new study briefs exploring how the CABI-led global PlantwisePlus programme supports Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka achieve some of their climate and development priorities within agriculture.
A step forward for pesticide risk reduction in Sri Lanka with launch of new national committee
In a significant step toward safer and more sustainable agriculture, stakeholders from Sri Lanka’s Department of Agriculture (DoA) under the Ministry of Agriculture and CABI came together for an important workshop on pesticide risk reduction and Highly Hazardous Pesticides (HHPs). The event, held in August 2025, brought together regulators, researchers, universities, industry representatives, and other…
Training Sri Lanka’s agro-dealers in pesticide risk reduction
Agro-dealers provide vital support to Sri Lanka’s farmers. These agricultural input suppliers are often the first point of contact for smallholders who need advice on plant protection products. However, agro-dealers often lack formal training in safer pesticide use and pesticide alternatives. This can lead to the misuse of agro-chemicals, environmental harm, and health risks for…
Pesticide risks for farmers in Sri Lanka: The overlooked gender divide
This month marks International Women’s Day. This year’s theme is ‘Accelerate Action’, calling for increased momentum and urgency to address gender barriers such as those to agricultural advice. Empowering women with knowledge and information enables them to reduce pesticide risks more effectively and swiftly. In this blog, we look at pesticide risks for women farmers in…
Permanent Crop Clinic Programme in Sri Lanka to be strengthened following stakeholder meeting
The CABI-led Permanent Crop Clinic Programme (PCCP) in Sri Lanka is to be strengthened further and provide greater help to the country’s smallholder farmers looking to sustainably protect their crops from devastating crop pests and diseases.
Permanent Plant Clinic Programme gets to grips with yellowing of rice paddies in Sri Lanka
The CABI-led Permanent Plant Clinic Programme (PCCP) is working in partnership with the Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka to tackle the issue of yellowing of rice paddies which is threatening livelihoods and food security in the Mahaweli region.
Asian Farmers Consult Vibrant E-Plant Clinic Network In Pandemic Times
This article was originally published on aesa – Agricultural Extension in South Asia E-Plant clinics are meeting places where local agricultural advisory officers, known as plant doctors, help farmers struggling with plant pests and diseases. During the COVID-19 pandemic, plant clinics continued to provide advisory services to farmers by going online. Malvika Chaudhary shares her…
Sri Lanka launches Skype service to further strengthen advisory support in plant clinics
Plant clinics in Sri Lanka, known as the Permanent Crop Clinic Programme, continue to grow and modernize throughout the country. After successfully rolling out e-plant clinics in several provinces in Sri Lanka, the younger generation of agricultural extension workers is now feeling just as confident in solving crop health issues as their senior colleagues did…
Reaching more farmers with innovative early morning plant clinics
It is generally accepted that early morning is the best time to learn and retain new information. As the saying goes: “the early bird gets the worm.” This long-held belief is being applied in Vavuniya, Sri Lanka, where plant clinics are now conducted at the crack of dawn. The plant clinics are a platform for…
Expanding our e-plant clinic network in Sri Lanka
The Sri Lankan e-plant clinic pilot, which launched in 2015 at 10 clinics in Central Province, was extremely successful in minimizing the time as well as workload of plant doctors performing data management tasks. As a result of these and various other benefits established over the last 2 years, the e-plant clinic network has been scaled up…