Two-way SMS platform offers farmers timely management advice for fall armyworm in Kenya
This article was originally published on the PRISE website During the 2019 short rains season in Kenya, PRISE partnered with Precision Agriculture for Development (PAD) to provide maize farmers with timely pest management information on Fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda). By building on PAD’s existing messaging service, which is run in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture, the two-way…
The whimsical world of weeds: what’s in a name?
Invasive plants are everywhere – not just in our domestic gardens but on a grander scale on the grasslands of Kenya and Ethiopia as well as the Great Plains in the United States and Canada, including the world-famous Rocky Mountains.
Spotlight turned on crop pest biocontrol in Latin America
The spotlight has been turned on the use of biocontrol for crop pest management, as part of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) programmes in Latin America, during a key note address to the II Congress of Applied Biological Control in Ecuador given by CABI’s Dr Yelitza Colmenarez.
Fall Armyworm Research Champion opportunity
CABI are offering an exciting opportunity for enthusiastic fall armyworm (FAW) researchers to take on the role of Research Champion for the FAW research collaboration portal.
CABI ‘chips in’ with expertise on potato pests
Potatoes are one of the most versatile and widely consumed vegetables on the planet – being third in line for the ‘top vegetable crown’ after rice and wheat in terms of human consumption. In fact, ‘chips aside’, more than a billion people worldwide eat potato, and global total crop production exceeds 300 million metric tons.…
Busy in biocontrol: spotlight on weed researcher Jennifer Andreas
Meet Jennifer Andreas, who has collaborated with CABI on a number of biological control projects since 2000, in this profile originally published by the North American Invasive Species Management Association (NAISMA).
Establishing parthenium leaf beetle (Zygogramma bicolorata) at new sites in Pakistan
Parthenium weed (Parthenium hysterophorus) is an aggressive herbaceous plant native to north-east Mexico and is endemic in America, with no economic importance reported. This invasive weed has spread to over 50 countries, including Pakistan. Parthenium is prolific, yielding thousands of small white flowers each forming five seeds and on reaching maturity results in a huge number of…
Pilot project using drones to control desert locust launches in Kenya
A partnership between CABI and Astral-Aerial is piloting the use of drones for the control of desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria). Funded by UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) through the Frontier Technologies Hub, the approach targets roosting populations of small swarms that are not feasible to spray by other means such as aircraft, or…
CABI supports first Dutch field trials with exotic insect to combat Japanese knotweed
For the first time in the Netherlands, an exotic insect species is released into the wild to combat a harmful plant species. The Japanese knotweed psyllid should offer relief against the rampant Asian knotweed. Suzanne Lommen of the Institute of Biology Leiden is coordinating the field trials as part of a consortium which includes CABI,…
A plague during a pandemic: how to increase resilience against the desert locust outbreak
On 12 October, as part of a virtual side event for the World Food Prize’s annual Borlaug Dialogue, CABI hosted a panel session on A plague during a pandemic: how to increase resilience against the desert locust outbreak. The webinar aimed to communicate the urgent need for a comprehensive and coordinated response to this year’s…