The majority of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa rely on both crops and animals for their livelihoods. However, the scarcity of farmer advisory services leaves them with insufficient knowledge about crop and animal health, as well as the wider health issues emanating from farming. There is ...

Crop and livestock health are crucial to agricultural productivity and farmers' livelihoods. However, in low-income countries, farmer advisory services tend to be permanently short of funding and staff, leaving the majority of smallholders underserved. CABI's work with plant clinics has revealed...

A survey of 717 farmers (61% male, 39% female) was conducted in six districts in Uganda to assess the effects of Plant Health Rallies (PHRs) on famers' knowledge, attitudes and practices, and to draw lessons about PHR implementation. The survey was complemented with Focus Group Discussions and Key...

Purpose: This paper explores the information sharing between farmers clustered around a formal plant health information source, using six case studies of plant clinics in China and Zambia. Design/methodology/approach: A survey was carried out with 327 farmers; six plant doctors were interviewed and ...

The benefits of joint health service delivery remain under-explored in One Health. Plant clinics are known to provide ad hoc, undocumented advice on animal health and production to farmers. To understand the scope of this activity, 180 plant doctors (extension workers) in Uganda, Kenya, Zambia,...

Although plant clinics are considered an important mechanism in the service delivery to farmers, not much is known about their functioning in the daily reality of plant doctors and farmer-clients. This article reports on an exploratory study describing the functioning of eight plant clinics in...

This study explores how communication and its technical content shape farmers' response to advice delivered at plant clinics. Thirty-six farmers who visited a plant clinic in one of three countries (Malawi, Costa Rica and Nepal) were given at least one diagnosis of a plant health problem and up to...

Since its introduction in Honduras in 2002, paratrioza, a devastating potato pest, has been gaining strength especially in the department of Intibucá. Beginning in 2014, the National Service for Agrifood Health and Safety (SENASA), in collaboration with the Plantwise programme of CABI, has...

Agricultural innovation systems (AIS) approaches contribute to achieving impact at scale: this is still a statement which is questioned and not yet a widely accepted fact. Any claims supporting it are based on circumstantial evidence at best. This chapter discusses why this is the case, examining...