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…
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…
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…
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
CABI Confronting the Climate Crisis
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…
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.
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.
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,…
World Water Day: “We must mobilise all available resources”
To mark UN World Water Day on Sunday (22 March 2020) we share this article written by CABI Board Member Dr Ismahane Elouafi – originally published on the Rural 21 website – who, in her position as Director General of the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA), makes a case for more research on alternative…
Five, four, three, two, one – blast off! Students keep their eyes on the radiosonde launch at the Kenya Meteorology Department, Nairobi
Around 250 students from the University of Nairobi, Manguo Secondary School and Visa Oshwal Primary School were part of a 400-strong crowd that gathered to witness the launch of a radiosonde packed with gadgetry as part of the UK Space Agency-funded* CABI-led Pest Risk Information Service (PRISE). The students literally had their eyes on the…