Turning up the heat on a humble bug to help relieve allergy sufferers from dreaded ragweed
Ongoing research to find a biological control to help millions of allergy sufferers blighted by common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia) is gaining momentum with the heat being turned up on the prospect of a humble bug – the leaf beetle (Ophraella communa) – presenting itself as a successful foe to reduce harmful ragweed pollen.
When you picture a farmer, are they a woman?
CABI has today published a briefing, Empowering female farmers – Gender responsive programming, which is an overview of gender inequality in agriculture, its challenges and impacts, and how CABI is working to address these through its projects and implementation now and in the future.
Sensitizing maize growers of Punjab on aflatoxin biocontrol to produce quality crops for their communities
Dr Sabyan Faris Honey, CABI, and Deborah Hamilton, USDA Farmers in the Punjab province of Pakistan produce 85% of maize not only for the purpose of helping to ensure local and regional food security but also for export to high end markets. Due to the presence of aflatoxin levels above permissible limits (20ppb) in maize…
CABI Blog Most Read 2019
As 2019 draws to a close, we have crunched the numbers and compiled the top 20 most read articles on the CABI Blog this year. Plus a few firm favourites. Articles by CABI Books authors proved popular this year, covering a wide range of topics from religious tourism, to science communications, and the visual system…
The Legume Alliance
Reblogged from N2Africa. Back in 2015, a group of like-minded organizations came together to explore the idea of forming an alliance to improve the information provided about improved legume techniques for farmers. The idea of this Legume Alliance was to test a new integrated approach to developing and sharing agricultural information. Farmers did not always…
If you love your wine, watch out for the spotted lanternfly!
By Dr Tim Haye, Head of Arthropod Biological Control, CABI In the past two decades, Europe and North America have unintentionally shared many invasive insect pests originating from Asia, including the spotted wing Drosophila (Drosophila suzukii), brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha halys), the box tree moth (Cydalima perspectalis) and Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica). As if…
CABI’s Dialogue in Agriculture brings experts together to share learning in development communication
At the end of November, CABI’s development communication team brought stakeholders and key partners together in the first event of its kind called - ‘Dialogue in Agriculture: Inclusive and demand-driven communication in smallholder agricultural systems’ - to share learning from recent communication campaigns in parts of Africa and Asia.
“Gender mainstreaming is important because both men and women have equal rights to have their voices heard”
CABI envisions a world in which women, youth, and marginalised communities are included and treated equally in agricultural production. In support of SDG5: Gender Equality, CABI is focused on empowering women in agriculture. As such, this year we welcomed a key new member of staff, Bethel Terefe, as CABI’s first Gender Coordinator. Bethel will be…
How comics, pop music and drama deliver down-to-earth messages to help African farmers improve their soil
5 December is World Soil Day. Soil is a life source for healthy ecosystems, healthy food and, ultimately, healthy humans. With a growing population, the soil that’s cultivated will have to feed many more people, but it will only be able to do this if soil fertility is managed.
CABI builds capacity to tackle aflatoxin contamination of cereal crops in Pakistan
In this latest blog from CABI’s Dr Sabyan Faris Honey and Deborah Hamilton of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), we look at how the ‘Aflatoxin Control in Pakistan’ project is increasing efforts to build the capacity of technical staff in Punjab province to manage the harmful toxins which affect cereal crops, including maize,…