Education on safe pesticide use crucial for farmers in rural Kenya

Young farmer spraying pesticides on crop without proper protective clothing
A team from CABI,  AMPATH  and Corteva recently visited an area in the Rift Valley and discovered alarming evidence that farmers are unaware of the harmful effects of agricultural pesticides. Through indiscriminate use, poor handling, storage and application of pesticides, farmers in the area are harming consumers and themselves.
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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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Plantwise and Syngenta Foundation India train rural youth to be agri-entrepreneurs

Plant samples on a table being assessed by plant doctors in India
In August this year, Plantwise signed a partnership statement with Syngenta Foundation India (SFI) to collaborate on their flagship programme, Agri-Entrepreneur Enterprise. Under the programme, mentors who support agri-entrepreneurs – known as AEs – in achieving a sustainable enterprise form a fundamental part in capacity building. Plantwise and SFI collaborated on training the mentors who…
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