Reaping the harvest: Sustainable tea production in India picture special
Recently CABI scientists revealed that India’s tea – which accounts for around 27 percent of the world’s tea production and where in 2016 exports of 232.9 mn kg were worth Rs 4,493 crore, could be protected from devastating crop pests with more environmentally-friendly and sustainable biological controls rather than an over reliance on pesticides. In…
Story maps: visualizing multimedia development communications
The famous statistician, Hans Rosling, used to say the aim is to go from numbers to information to understanding. This is the essence of how data should be used, shared and presented. Data can be presented in many different ways but maps are perhaps the best way of visualizing spatial information. As technology has progressed…
Taking action on invasives and youth unemployment in Zambia
Youth unemployment is a significant economic and social burden for Zambia. So too is the impact of invasive species on agricultural production and the natural environment. Are these mutually exclusive challenges, or can youth unemployment and tackling agricultural challenges, such as invasive species, be effectively positioned together to deliver jobs, food security and sustainable agriculture?…
Trichogramma evanescens, a biocontrol agent to control apple codling moth in apple orchards – first record from Pakistan
Apple codling moth and apple spider mites are one of most serious pests of different fruits, especially its deleterious effects on apple trees, which poses economic threat to apple production in the region. Codling moth was recorded as the most serious insect pest of the apple industry in Balochistan when the project conducted a baseline survey in…
Growing agriculture: nutrition community points the way to achieving SDG2 by 2030
By Shenggen Fan, Sivan Yosef, and Rajul Pandya-Lorch The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have launched a race to transform our world for the better little more than a decade from now. The goals are idealistic, setting a high bar for every aspect of quality of life, from health and education to gender equality and climate…
When a Hollywood star came to CABI
The online market place goliath, and newly emerging leader in film and TV programme production, Amazon, visited CABI’s centre in Egham, UK to shoot footage for a new Amazon Prime Original series called This Giant Beast that is the Global Economy. The globe-spanning docuseries brings the smart, stylized storytelling of Adam McKay’s The Big…
Why a global insect decline affects us all
Insects crucial for ecosystem functioning and food production A comprehensive review of insect declines around the world gives a stark picture of the scale of the declines and the consequences both for ecology and human welfare. The paper, published in Biological Conservation, warns that 40% of the world’s insect species could become extinct within a few…
‘Cracking the code’ of woody weed spread with machine-learnt algorithms
A scientific tool which has its principles in early ‘computers’ such as the German WW2 Enigma machine – used to convey secret commercial, diplomatic and military communication – is helping to map the fractional cover of the woody weed Prosopis juliflora across the Afar Region of Ethiopia. PhD Candidate Hailu Shiferaw from Addis Ababa University,…
Meet the ‘sorcerer’ and her ‘apprentice’ – just two of CABI’s trailblazing female scientists
To mark the UN’s International Day of Women and Girls in Science we take a look at how two generations of female scientists are coming together to tackle non-native invasive weeds and help reduce environmental degradation Meet the ‘sorcerer’ and her ‘apprentice’ Dr Carol Ellison, a plant pathologist at CABI, and Project Scientist and PhD…
“Work hard and always try to give your best. No matter what people say, always give your best”
To mark the UN International Day of Women and Girls in Science today (11 February 2019), we speak to some of CABI’s women working in science. In this blog Dr Yelitza Colmenarez, Director CABI Brazil Centre and Regional Coordinator for the Plantwise programme – Latin America and the Caribbean, reveals the motivation and inspiration behind her career in science…