Plantwise Newsletter- April 2015

UPDATE APRIL 2015

Janny Vos, CABI

ISSUE 10!

Smallholder farmers and the advice they receive at plant clinics will be the focus at a Swiss Pavilion interactive exhibit.

Plantwise to be featured at Expo Milano 2015 exhibit Over 500 million smallholder farmers worldwide provide food for two-thirds of the earth’s growing population. These farmers, and the major challenges they face due to crop health problems, will be the focus of a new interactive exhibit to be launched by the CABI-led Plantwise programme at the Swiss Pavilion during Expo Milano 2015. The world expo, occurring once every 5 years and opening its doors from May 1st to October 31st, will welcome an estimated 20 million visitors with the theme “Feeding the planet: Energy for Life.”

Switzerland, along with 145 countries and international organizations, will highlight both private and publicly-funded contributions to global food security. Since its launch in 2010, Plantwise has provided an innovative approach to agricultural development to support farmers to lose less and feed more. This approach, based around plant clinics, is supported by a number of partners working to reach a zero hunger world. The Plantwise exhibit in Milan, featuring an interactive free mobile app game, will give visitors a view of the challenges producing food before it reaches supermarket shelves. Players will have an opportunity to step into the shoes of a farmer

and help a plant doctor to diagnose a plant health problem. They can earn virtual ‘food security points’ with advice from the plant clinic to achieve goals like paying school fees for their children and building additions on their homes.

Visitors to the Swiss Pavilion in Milan will experience virtual plant clinics first hand with an engaging exhibit focused on the challenges of key crops. Visit the Swiss Pavilion website, www.padiglionesvizzero.ch, to download the free game starting April 16 for all mobile devices, so you can experience a few moments as a smallholder farmer helping to feed the world.

In its inaugural year, Olam and the Agropolis Foundation have named Plantwise as a top finalist for a prize which showcases efforts towards improved food security. This award “aims to recognize an

CABI

Plantwise named finalist for Olam Food Security Innovation Prize

D.Onyango, CABI

outstanding innovation for its potential impact on the availability, affordability, accessibility or adequacy of food, as well as to support its further development.” As a programme now working in 34 countries, this is recognition of

the work of all the Plantwise supporters and partners who make this innovative approach a reality in policy and practice. The finalists are also featured on the Farming Firsts blog. Read more here.

Farmer Focus Kenya: Plant clinics helped my crop

Times are better now, but it has not always been smooth sailing for her. Plant health problems were a major cause of crop losses on her farm until she sought help from her local plant clinic.

Rose is one of the many farmers benefiting from the advice provided for free at plant clinics since 2012 in Kenya, and she sees great benefits in attending them. “Thanks to the recommendations of the plant doctor my banana harvest has increased significantly. I have managed to buy more land and construct a poultry house.” In Kenya, CABI supports national partners to set up and run the plant clinics and connect them to diagnostic resources and innovations like the new Plantwise Factsheet Library app. A total of 89 plant clinics are currently running across 13 counties in Kenya, helping farmers like Rose to reduce crop losses and improve their livelihoods.

Rose Wanjiru Ireri owns a 2.5 acre farm in Mbeere District in Eastern Kenya. “I grow oranges, mangoes, cassava and vegetables on my farm and I also produce bananas for sale,” she says with a smile on her face.

CABI welcomes Plantwise partners for new sustainable agriculture degree in Switzerland From 10 Plantwise implementing countries around the world, agricultural professionals arrived at the start of March 2015 to enrich their knowledge and experience with the Masters in Advanced Studies in Integrated Crop Management (MAS in ICM). Over the next 9-months in Switzerland, this new higher education programme from CABI, the

University of Neuchâtel and the Canton Jura, will deliver science-based knowledge to help address today’s critical environmental and agricultural challenges.

“We are at an important stage of discussing food security as a global focus, and this programme is about bringing the global and

the local together. These students represent agents of change for improved food security in their home countries,” commented Peter Bieler, Head of the Global Programme Food Security at the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, which provided scholarship funding for the MAS in ICM Class of 2015.

By bringing young agricultural professionals together from around the world, this programme aims to not only advance their careers with new practices and techniques in ICM, but also foster a network of exchange and collaboration.

Plant doctor Martin Busobozi, MAS in ICM student, shared with attendees his goals, adding “I hope with the knowledge that I gain here, I will be in a better position to impact many farmers’ lives through improved yields back in Rwanda.”

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M. Kaufmann, CABI

Plantwise is a global programme led by CABI, working to increase food security and improve rural livelihoods by reducing crop losses.

From paper to digital – piloting ICT at plant clinics Information and Communication Technology (ICT) devices, like laptops, tablets and smartphones have emerged as new tools to promote improved agricultural rural development and disseminating relevant and timely information to smallholders. In light of this new development, the Plantwise programme in India is currently helping to pilot the use of tablets by plant doctors in the field. With partners from M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), CABI staff trained plant doctors in Tamil Nadu on how to upload information from farmer visits directly into the digital prescription form, and how to access the free Plantwise Factsheet Library app. This free digital application was developed to provide plant doctors worldwide with access to hundreds of pest factsheets while in the field, helping them to diagnose crop problems on-site and deliver immediate and actionable advice. To find out more about the ICT pilot in India, watch our video and click here to download the app today.

H.Wright, CABI

Two new plant clinics for farmers in Lambayeque, Peru Due to an increased need for agricultural assistance in some of the furthest and most remote parts of the Lambayeque region in Peru, INIA (Instituto Nacional de Innovación Agraria), supported by CABI staff, rolled out two new plant clinics in Solecape and Puente Tuñoque (Muy Finca, Mochumí district). Through these new clinics, INIA aims to provide diagnostic and recommendation services to more than

M.Passador, CABI

A plant doctor is trained on running plant clinics for farmers in Solecape.

200 farmers with the objective of reducing crop losses caused by plant health challenges. As part of the service provided by the plant clinics, during the first session, two cotton specialists demonstrated the use of parasitic wasps (Trichogramma sp.) to control lepidopteran pests in cotton fields. In both locations, positive feedback has been received from farmers who are looking forward to coming back for more plant clinic advice in the future.

M.Passador, CABI

A plant doctor giving advice to a farmer about a maize crop pest at the plant clinic in Puente Tuñoque.

J. Delgado, CABI

Group picture of the training day in Solecape: Farmers from the region with plant doctors, specialists from INIA and CABI staff.

Growing global, reaching local: Plantwise in 2014 and continued partnerships with Plantwise will be the stepping stones towards lasting change.

Since its inception, the Plantwise programme’s progress has been based on the principle that plant health information, when accessible, can be a powerful tool to support improved global food security and change rural livelihoods. Looking at the last year, is it clear that this unique approach can quickly take root and spread when supported. With the goal of reaching 30 million farmers by 2020, further support

We would like to ask you to tell us about one Plantwise experience of your own, or an example of the programme’s potential to affect the work that you do. Write to Plantwise@cabi.org and we will feature your comments here in the next global newsletter.

H. Zundel/TMAX

2014

2013

NEARLY

2FARMERS MILLION

2012

3,591 PLANT DOCTORS TRAINED

2020 1,413

PLANT CLINICS

REACHED

600,000 FARMERS REACHED

280,000 FARMERS REACHED

1,335

PLANT DOCTORS TRAINED

127 PARTNERS IN 24 COUNTRIES

2,077

PLANT DOCTORS TRAINED

720

30 MILLION FARMERS REACHED

PLANT CLINICS

413

PLANT CLINICS

168 PARTNERS IN 31 COUNTRIES

201 PARTNERS IN 33 COUNTRIES

Figures are cumulative

Plantwise Annual Statistics 2014 Update

Plantwise is supported by:

Ministry of Agriculture People’s Republic of China

To find out more visit www.plantwise.org or contact: Janny Vos, Strategic Partnerships Director T: +31 (0)33 4321 031 E: j.vos@cabi.org

LOSE LESS, FEED MORE www.plantwise.org