Global rescue plan needed for fruit and vegetable diversity
UN Food Systems Summit 2021 brief charts a path forward to conserve precious genetic resources for future food crop options. The many fruit and vegetable species in food production systems contributing essential nutrients to human diets are under threat from land use, climate change, and other factors, reports a United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS)…
Punjab wheat growers hope to boost productivity with combine harvester and wheat straw chopper
CABI is working with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to help small-scale wheat farmers in the Hafizabad and Sheikhupura districts of Punjab, Pakistan, boost their productivity by demonstrating the benefits of modern machinery – the New Holland TC-56 combine harvester and wheat straw chopper.
Maize growers of Punjab helped to manage aflatoxins through biological control technology
Maize crop in Pakistan presents a remarkable success story from the last few years. For instance, the country’s maize production increased from 705 tonnes in 1971 to 7,000 tonnes in 2020 – growing at an average annual rate of 5.15%.
Kamla Bai charts her journey of empowerment from farmworker to women village trainer for CABI
This is the story of Kamla Bai who has been a Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) farmworker since 2015. Mrs Bai belongs to a minority Hindu community and lives in a small village of district Mirpur Khas in Pakistan. She received her education to Matric level (10th grade), graduated from high school, and has since been…
Mainstreaming the Moruga Hill Rice tradition to expand green value chains in Trinidad and Tobago
With Earth Day taking place on 22 April, CABI scientist, Naitram Ramnanan (IAS Coordinator and Regional Representative – Caribbean and Central America, CABI) takes a look at sustainable agriculture in Trinidad. With an ever growing global population, sustainable agriculture – or agroecology – has become an increasingly important area of study and work. Many landscapes…
Classifying agribusiness-based advisory services: benefits and challenges of different models
By: Dannie Romney, Global Director, Development Communication and Extension, CABI Agricultural extension and advisory services – services that offer technical advice to farmers – play an important role in delivering the knowledge and tools that farmers need to increase their crop yields, improve their food security and livelihoods, and build resilience against the difficulties they…
Data sharing standards for soil: Why aren’t they taking root?
The arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic has put food security squarely on the global agenda. Combined with the existing challenges that climate change brings to agriculture and agroecology, the production of ample and nutritious food is now under threat as farmers struggle with social distancing and income loss – writes Ruthie Musker, Project Officer –…
Sustainable cotton production ‘through the eyes’ of a Better Cotton farmer
Mr Javed is a resident of the village Jameel Dall, union council Mir Imam Bux Talpur, in the district of Mirpur Khas in Pakistan. He has, since 2012, been one of the active farmers of CABI’s project to help improve cotton production which is run under the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI).
CABI helps build capacity of government stakeholders in Pakistan to tackle aflatoxins with biological controls
Aflatoxins are powerful fungal toxins that contaminate many agricultural products, including cereal grains, chilies, dry fruits and nuts. They also well affect milk because some livestock feed contains aflatoxin. In Pakistan, aflatoxin concentrations in harvested grain frequently exceed the level permitted in countries where aflatoxin in food and feed is regulated. The Aflatoxin Control in…
Strengthening extension trainings through digital tools in Rwanda
The role of extension staff in reaching smallholder farmers in Africa with relevant agricultural information cannot be underestimated, writes Abigael Mchana, Communications Officer, and Henry Mibei, Manager, Digital Development at CABI’s Africa Centre in Nairobi, Kenya. They are few in number compared to their clients in need of their expertise and often operate with scarce…