Summer studentship for young scientists announced by Global Burden of Crop Loss initiative

MAS ICM students soil sampling
The Global Burden of Crop Loss initiative, announces a summer studentship programme providing young scientists with the opportunity to contribute to an exciting and important global effort to develop a global data-driven system to report losses to agricultural crops caused by pests and diseases.
Read Further

International Tea Day 2020: celebrating tea’s importance to our planet

International Tea Day 2020: celebrating tea’s importance to our planet
International Tea Day aims to increase public awareness of sustainable production and consumption of tea; its importance in fighting hunger and poverty as well as improve the tea value chain. On this inaugural International Tea Day, CABI is honoured to celebrate the smallholder farmers we work with through countries with the systems and economies that rely on the production and commercialisation of tea to thrive.
Read Further

Making a case for safer ways to fight rice pests in the Greater Mekong

Rice is big business in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) in Southeast Asia—not only as a vital source of food but also as a crop that provides work and income for 80 percent of the population. However, despite positive developments in the last decade, millions of tons are still being lost to pests, diseases, and…
Read Further

Q&A with CABI’s climate change manager

CABI envisions a world in which smallholder farmers can confidently face the challenges of climate, delivering ecosystem services for a climate-resilient future. In support of SDG 13: Climate Action, CABI is focused on supporting the uptake of climate smart agriculture. As such, this year we welcomed a new member of staff, Jonny Casey, as CABI’s first Climate…
Read Further

Building a new world

Lawrence Alderson is the author of The Quest to Conserve Rare Breeds, to be published by CABI in August 2020. Dealing with the immediate and urgent challenges posed by Covid-19 understandably dominates the news channels. It demands priority. A threat of such global severity has not been encountered in living memory, unless you can remember…
Read Further

Is chocolate under threat?

Otherwise known as ‘the food of the gods’ Theobroma Cacao is cocoa - the key ingredient from which chocolate is produced. The various species of cocoa such as Criollo and Forastero mainly originate from the Amazon jungle and are planted and produced in Colombia, Brazil, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Indonesia, Ghana, Ecuador and Nigeria
Read Further

CABI Confronting the Climate Crisis

Plant doctor in action
The impacts of climate change will not just be experienced by our grandchildren in decades to come. For the 800 million of smallholder farmers across Africa, Asia and Latin America, the hazards being driven by climate change are already threatening their lives, incomes, and yields. CABI is working across its centres and with its partners…
Read Further

CABI Impact Brief showcases successes in capacity building for Better Cotton Initiative

A CABI Study Brief, entitled ‘Improving the safety and quality of cotton production in Pakistan’ shares findings on the impact of a CABI capacity building programme for farmers and farm workers involved in the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) in two Pakistan districts.
Read Further

AflaPak registration will pave the way to enhance the livelihoods of maize growers in Pakistan

Pakistan has taken the regional lead to mitigate the aflatoxin issue in South Asia. USAID/USDA has joined hands with CAB I to lead this new initiative in collaboration with the National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC) and Rafhan Maize Products Co. Ltd. This will help to safeguard the health and nutrition of Pakistan people.
Read Further

CABI scientist defends PhD thesis on risks of pest and disease movement via plant and seed exchanges

CABI scientist Dr Iva Franić has successfully defended her PhD thesis looking at the risks of pest and disease movement via plant and seed exchanges. Dr Franić, co-supervised by Dr René Eschen, Research Scientist, Ecosystems Management, and Risk Analysis and Invasion Ecology at CABI, obtained her PhD degree from the University of Bern in Switzerland,…
Read Further