Professors Ruth Oniang’o and Anne Glover: ‘Women need to understand power structures’
To mark the forthcoming UN’s International Day of Women and Girls in Science (11 February 2019), we look at a recent story covered by SciDev.Net in which CABI board members Professors Ruth Oniang’o and Anne Glover argue that women should challenge traditional power structures and ask for more transparency to get ahead in science and other fields…
There’s a new goal post for agriculture: it’s nutrition
By Shenggen Fan, Sivan Yosef, and Rajul Pandya-Lorch Agriculture is the single most important innovation in human history. Over the course of thousands of years, it has staved off hunger, allowed populations to leave their hunter-gatherer lives behind, and freed up time for other pursuits (like inventing writing and the wheel!) that have propelled societies…
Can a ‘diet’ of digital data really help feed the world?
Last week (29 January 2019) CABI was awarded a $1.49 million grant from the Gates Foundation to work with them to help increase food security in India and Ethiopia through better access to data on soil health, agronomy and fertilizers. In this blog Communications Manager Wayne Coles looks at whether or not the use of…
Cabbage stem flea beetle and aphids are the curse of every farmer, but CABI and CHAP may have a solution
By 2050 there could be as many as 10 billion mouths to feed across the world. This is now a much-repeated fact, as is the growing demand for sustainable produce with reduced chemical inputs and environmental impact. In short, there is a need to produce more and more food, with fewer and fewer inputs…
Q&A: ‘I emigrated when my lab was turned into barracks’
SciDev.Net – the world’s leading source of reliable and authoritative news, views and analysis about science and technology for global development – is owned by CABI and highlights the role of women in science. On the eve of the UN International Day of Women and Girls in Science next month (11 February) we share this incredible…
CABI and IFDC join forces to get soybean film out to farmers in Northern Ghana
By Duncan Sones – from an article which originally appeared on the Africa Soil Health Consortium (ASHC) website Farmers in Northern Ghana are reaping the benefit of village-based film screenings to inform them about agricultural practices. Film screenings are growing in popularity amongst farmers and extension projects, as the technique for sharing information. This is…
The time is ripe for climate adaptation in agriculture
By Janny Vos, Director of Strategic Partnerships at CABI I recently attended the launch of the Global Commission on Adaptation (GCA) in The Hague where the words of the CEO of the World Bank – Kristalina Georgieva – resonated strongly with my work as part of an organisation that aims to improve people’s lives worldwide…
Fertilizer Optimization Tool helps return son to teacher training school
By Monica Kansiime, Scientist Seed Systems, based at CABI in Nairobi, Kenya In a previous blog post I outlined how the Fertilizer Optimization Tool (FOT) is paying dividends for farmers – helping them, in some cases, to report a seven-fold increase in their yields. Charles Wafula is a farmer and resident of Buhehe in Uganda who…
Empowering more women in the fight against fruit flies in Pakistan
More women in the Gilgit Baltistan (GB) region of Pakistan are benefiting from a Phytosanitary Risk Management Programme (PRMP) aimed at using a range of biological controls to fight the fruit fly pest which can impact heavily on rice and horticultural crops. PRMP, which is funded by USAID via United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), was initiated in…
Fertilizer Optimization Tool pays dividends for farmers in Uganda
By Dr Monica Kansiime, Scientist Seed Systems, based at CABI in Nairobi, Kenya A decision support tool that allows an extension agent to take into account a number of the farmers’ circumstances and investment goals to maximize the benefits of fertilizer use on their farms is starting to pay dividends in Molo Sub-County in Uganda – with…