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PlantwisePlus

Farmers’ crops are increasingly at the mercy of climate change, pests and diseases. PlantwisePlus will work to help countries predict, prepare for and prevent potential threats and reduce crop losses. We will provide comprehensive support to countries and farmers so they meet the increasing global demand for quality food in a changing climate.

Project Overview

So, what’s the problem

The impacts of climate change are being felt around the world, and rural communities in developing countries are bearing the brunt.

Farmers are facing increasingly severe climate impacts like drought, increased soil salinity, and new insect pest and disease threats. Farmers – in particular female farmers – are among the most vulnerable to the impacts as they often lack the resources to respond to these challenges.

With the right support, countries and farmers most vulnerable to climate risks can adapt to climate change, delivering improved food security and economic development.

What is this project doing?

PlantwisePlus will support low and lower-middle income countries to predict, prepare themselves for and prevent plant health threats in a changing climate – reducing crop losses and empowering farmers to increase income, food security and food safety by producing more and higher quality food.

Building on lessons learned from Plantwise and Action on Invasives over the past 10 years, this new CABI-led global programme responds to three inter-related challenges:

  1. There is no consistent or coordinated mechanism to detect, identify and respond to plant health problems
  2. Public and private actors providing extension services to smallholder farmers have insufficient capacity to diagnose crop health problems and recommend sustainable solutions
  3. Inappropriate pesticide use, including the application of highly toxic products, is still widespread and farmers, advisory service providers and consumers do not recognise the impacts on health and the natural resources that agriculture relies on.

PlantwisePlus will therefore focus on:

  • Strengthening detection of and response to pest outbreaks
  • Providing public and private agricultural service providers with better digital advisory tools to support farmers in sustainable crop management
  • Enhancing the availability of nature-positive and low-risk plant protection products to reduce reliance on high-risk farm inputs; (d) increasing consumer demand for and supply to local markets of safer, higher quality and locally produced food.

For more information about the programme, visit www.plantwise.org


Results

A comprehensive monitoring and evaluation plan is being developed for the PlantwisePlus programme, which will monitor progress and measure results against indicators and targets. A dedicated team of Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning specialists will work closely with biological and social scientists within CABI, partners and country implementation teams to test assumptions and evaluate outcomes and impacts

CABI and partners have learnt from previous programmes the value of using both quantitative and qualitative methods to ensure that a full range of evidence is captured, as well as a mix of internal and third-party evaluations to ensure impartiality.

The 2022 PlantwisePlus Annual Report presents an update on PlantwisePlus implementation between January and December 2022. The global programme consists of more than 50 activities under 13 outputs; implementation was mainly concentrated on six focus countries: Kenya, Ghana, Pakistan, Zambia, Uganda and Bangladesh.

For more information about the programme’s impact, visit www.plantwise.org/impact



Project Manager

Ulrich Kuhlmann

Executive Director, Global Operations

Rue des Grillons 1, 2800 Delémont, Switzerland

Stories of impact

PlantwisePlus Knowledge Bank helps countries like Malawi prepare for crop health threats

View Impact Story