Rehabilitating coffee plantations in Angola

Before the civil war, Angola was the fourth largest producer of coffee in the world, exporting over 240,000 tonnes of coffee per year at its peak. The coffee industry provided livelihoods for a large proportion of Angola’s population.  The war has had a devastating effect on the coffee industry. Many coffee estates were abandoned as peo... >>

Rust proofing Indian and African Coffee

The coffee industry is hugely important to the economies of India and various African countries. Exports bring in essential foreign exchange and the chain of jobs involved in the production, processing and marketing of coffee from seed to cup provides employment for millions of people. Many coffee farmers are small-scale growers who depend on it fo... >>

Helping Africa’s maize farmers to find their way out of poverty and starvation

Maize is a staple food in many of the sub-Saharan countries of Africa and is commonly grown by poor small-scale farmers in rural areas. However, when farming subsidies were cut in African countries, farmers were no longer able to afford inputs such as chemical fertilisers and maize production suffered. This drop in production and food security mean... >>

Little red mites pose a threat to coconuts in the Caribbean

The Caribbean is famed for its sun-soaked beaches lined with swaying palm trees, but this could soon be under threat. An invading army of red mites from Asia are leaving palm trees withered and yellow and as the local economy is heavily dependant on the landscape of the islands this could be disastrous. In addition, there are fears that the mites m... >>

Cottoning on to safer, sustainable cotton production

Millions of small scale growers rely on cotton as a cash crop to supplement their subsistence farming, often relying on the income to survive during times of hardship. However, cotton growing accounts for 11% of worldwide pesticide use, and can also cause other environmental problems such as salinisation and water logged soils, conditions whic... >>

Preparing Papua New Guinea’s farmers to fight the Cocoa Pod Borer

Bringing in around £50 million each year, the cocoa industry in Papua New Guinea is second only to coffee in its contribution to the agricultural export revenue. The industry produces an average of 35-40,000 tonnes of cocoa per year – 80% of which comes from small holders. In all, over 150,000 households depend upon cocoa for their live... >>

Helping cocoa farmers tackle diseased crops in a sustainable way

The main constraints to cocoa (Theobroma cacao) production in Central and South America are the fungal pathogens Moniliophthora roreri and Moniliophthora perniciosa, causal agents of frosty pod rot and witches’ broom disease respectively. Both of these diseases are still in an invasive phase. Chemical and conventional cultural control methods... >>

Stopping the coffee berry borer in its tracks

The coffee berry borer, Hypothenemus hampei, is the most damaging pest of coffee crops. It has wrought havoc in the coffee regions of many countries around the world, including Indonesia, South America and South East Asia, and it is now threatening to cross the West Papua border into Papua New Guinea – one of the last two remaining coffee nat... >>

Building pest awareness in Southeast Asia

Leafminers, whiteflies, thrips and mealybugs are serious and widespread agricultural pest problems in the Asia region, and have become increasingly more important over the last five years. Leafminers attack numerous vegetable crops, particularly for beans (especially long beans), cucumber, potato, tomato and crucifers (such as cabbag... >>