Biocontrol of papaya mealybug in East Africa
Papaya mealybug invaded East Africa between 2015 to 2020. The pest causes 57%- 91% yield and £2,224/ha household economic losses annually and severely impacts the livelihoods of smallholder farmers. As a means of control, nearly 51% of farmers manage the pest using pesticides which harm insect biodiversity in addition to…
Early warning pest alerts and Integrated Pest Management advice contributes to greater food security in Ghana
Smallholder maize farmers in Ghana provided with early warning pest alerts and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) advice about the fall armyworm pest enjoyed greater food security than their counterparts who were not privy to such information. A new CABI-led study, published in the journal Food Security, reveals that smallholder maize…
Sign-up for monthly Script training webinars
SciDev.Net’s training programme, Script, is inviting researchers to sign-up to its new series of monthly training webinars. The first webinar, held in February, looked at how researchers can boost their career through science communication. The next one takes place at 2pm (GMT) on Wednesday 29 March and will be led…
Mass media campaigns can be effective in promoting safer crop pest and disease control, new study reveals
A new CABI-led study has found that mass media campaigns aimed at changing pesticide use to fight crop pests and diseases are more effective when farmers are exposed to multiple forms of communication. CABI scientists collaborated with colleagues from the Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Department Board (RAB) to study…
PlantwisePlus programme launches to help improve food security in Pakistan
CABI in Pakistan has officially launched the PlantwisePlus programme to help improve food security in Pakistan through more sustainable approaches to food production. The CABI-led programme will help the Pakistan Government and smallholder farmers predict, prepare and prevent plant health threats to help reduce crop losses and increase livelihoods. It…
CABI scientist wins Outstanding Woman Award
CABI scientist Dr MaryLucy Oronje has won the Outstanding Woman Award at the Kenya Avocado Excellence Awards (KAEA) held recently to recognise individuals and organizations for their contribution to Kenya’s avocado industry. Dr Oronje, who is based at CABI’s regional centre for Africa in Nairobi, won the award for her…