PRISE pays dividends with farmers in Kenya heeding vital pest risk advice
Sixty percent of farmers who took part in a pilot SMS service run by Pest Risk Information Service (PRISE) and Precision Agriculture for Development (PAD) in Kenya have heeded vital pest risk advice to help protect their crops from devasting insects such as the Fall armyworm (FAW) which is already…
MARA China-CABI Joint Lab comes into strategic focus amid COVID-19 pandemic
Steering Committee (SC) members of the MARA China-CABI Joint Laboratory for Biosafety and MARA China-CABI European Laboratory have met to review the laboratories’ achievements over the past year as well as set out strategic plans for 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Representatives of the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural…
CABI signs open letter to UN, G-20 and national governments on food security amid COVID-19
CABI CEO Dr Trevor Nicholls has been one of the first to put his name, on behalf of the organisation, to an open letter on COVID-19 and agriculture for food and nutrition security addressed to the United Nations (UN), G-20 and national governments. The letter, that has also been signed…
Farmers and fishermen believe livelihoods would be enhanced by removal of semiaquatic weed
Farmers and fishermen living along the Kafue River floodplains in Zambia believe that removal of the invasive semiaquatic weed Mimosa pigra would ‘considerably enhance’ their livelihoods, according to new research undertaken by CABI scientists and published in Austral Ecology. Dr Arne Witt, based at CABI’s centre in Nairobi, Kenya, led…
Biocontrol is most cost-effective strategy in fight against common pest pear Opuntia stricta
The cochineal Dactylopius opuntiae ‘stricta’ biotype is more effective as a sustainable biocontrol in the fight against the invasive common pest pear Opuntia stricta in Laikipia County, Kenya, compared to physical and/or chemical control – CABI scientists can now reveal. Dr Arne Witt, based at CABI’s centre in Nairobi, led…
‘Alien’ plants do not adversely impact native tree species in Tanzania’s Amani Botanical Garden
CABI scientists have collaborated on new research which reveals that a range of invasive plants studied do not have a negative impact upon the seed germination, seedling survival or seedling communities of native trees in the Amani Botanical Garden (ABG) in Tanzania. Dr René Eschen and Dr Urs Schaffner joined…
Neem-based biopesticides ‘as good as’ insecticides to fight Fall armyworm
CABI scientists and their partners from Ghana, including the Plant Protection and Regulatory Services Directorate (PPRSD), Savanna Agricultural Research Institute (CSIR-SARI) and Radiation Entomology and Pest Management Centre - Biotechnology and Nuclear Agriculture Research Institute (BNARI), have revealed that the neem-based biopesticides Ozoneem and especially Grow-Safe are ‘as good as’ the…
CAB Direct reaches new milestone with 13 millionth bibliographic record added to database
The total number of bibliographic records in the CAB Abstracts and Global Health databases has reached a new landmark with the 13 millionth record being added to the growing database. Both databases are accessible via CAB Direct – the most thorough and extensive source of reference in the applied life…
Nematode-based solution offers possible ‘weapon’ in arsenal against devastating fall armyworm pest
A PhD student from the University of Neuchâtel and CABI in Switzerland is collaborating with plant protection scientists of Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resource Development Board (RAB) and farmers to find a viable biocontrol solution for the devastating fall armyworm (FAW) as part of an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategy…
Humble bug holds key to relieving millions of allergy sufferers in Europe
Prior to the accidental arrival of the leaf beetle in 2013, some 13.5 million people suffered from ragweed-induced allergies in Europe, causing economic costs of approximately Euro 7.4 billion annually. CABI has led a team of scientists on new research which reveals that a humble bug…