CABI answers call to tackle invasive water lettuce in Kenya’s Maasai-Mara ecosystem
CABI has responded to a call from residents of the Naretoi Conservancy in Kenya’s Maasai-Mara ecosystem to help rid it of invasive water lettuce. The aquatic water lettuce plant (Pistia stratiotes L.), also known locally as ‘yungi, can have a range of detrimental effects on biodiversity including the degradation of…
Majority of farmers willing to pay for plant health advice, new research shows
The majority of farmers surveyed in Bangladesh, Rwanda and Zambia are willing to pay for visits to CABI-led Plantwise plant clinics which help diagnose potentially devastating crop pests and diseases as well as ways to mitigate impacts on yields. An international team of experts led by Adewale Ogunmodede, Junior Agricultural…
CABI Academy digital teaching resources addressing agricultural challenges now available in Burkina Faso
The CABI Academy addresses a multitude of agricultural challenges faced by smallholder farmers around the world. Our flagship courses are now available for free in Burkina Faso; helping extension workers to advise on how to best tackle issues such as crop-devastating pests and diseases. The available courses are Crop Pest…
CABI-led research prioritizes Invasive Alien Species threat to Kenya
CABI has led research which prioritizes 120 potential Invasive Alien Species (IAS) that could pose a threat to agriculture and biodiversity in Kenya. From the initial assessment, the study, published in the journal Biological Invasions, drew up a list of 21 arthropods, 9 nematodes and 20 pathogenetic species which the…
Students invited to enrol for courses in Integrated Crop Management
Scientists, teachers, extension officers, policy makers and post-graduate students are being invited to enrol for two new online programmes teaching the essentials of Integrated Crop Management (ICM). ICM is a sustainable agricultural production system that improves overall crop health with minimal impact on the environment. It optimizes yield and profitability…
CABI Academy digital teaching resources addressing agricultural challenges now available in Bolivia
The CABI Academy addresses a multitude of agricultural challenges faced by smallholder farmers around the world. Our flagship courses are now available for free in Bolivia; helping extension workers to advise on how to best tackle issues such as crop-devastating pests and diseases. The available courses are Crop Pest Diagnosis…
SciDev.Net readers’ conference questions future proofing land use
SciDev.Net has hosted its latest Readers’ Conference Call on the subject of future-proofing land use, with guest speakers shedding light on the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. Isaac Dladla, an environmental management and climate change practitioner who heads the Eswatini Environment Authority (EEA)…
Palm tree story wins in SciDev.Net journalism awards
A story about a farmer in Algeria who invented a device which can water his palm trees automatically has won the ‘News Article of the Year’ in the annual SciDev.Net journalism awards. Riaz Mazouzi’s prize-winning story ‘He could not find workers, so he invented a regulator that watered his palms,’…
Science podcast aired by student radio
SciDev.Net’s Africa Science Focus podcast has joined forces with The University of Johannesburg’s campus radio station UJFM. The station has agreed to broadcast the award-winning weekly episodes – extending the podcast’s global reach of more than 500,000 listeners. The new partnership comes as the Africa Science Focus podcast is now…
Extension campaign helps nearly 61,500 farmers in Ghana increase maize productivity
A CABI-led pilot project has helped nearly 61,500 farmers in Ghana tackle fall armyworm and stalk borer by broadcasting advice from a network of Community Information Centres (CICs) with a view to increasing their yields of maize. One hundred CICs were engaged in the Bono and Bono East Regions of…