Potential slug invasions and their impact on UK biosecurity (Part 1)
Guest writer, Dr Jenna Ross, from Crop Health and Protection (CHAP), joins us for a two-part special series (read part 2) on the outputs of her prestigious Nuffield Farming Scholarship, where she spent 26 weeks travelling the world studying all aspects of slug invasions and methods of control. In Part 1, Jenna discusses the current…
Deploying biopesticides to combat fall armyworm in South Sudan
A new project in South Sudan is combatting the fall armyworm, an insect that can cause significant damage to crops, particularly maize. With more than half of South Sudan’s current population—nearly 6.2 million people—in need of life-saving food assistance, safeguarding food security where possible is essential. Launched in January 2019 as a partnership between CABI,…
Collaborative effort in Kenya to manage the impact of scale insect in coastal region
By Fernadis Makale, CABI Scale insects – such as the coffee mealybug and cassava mealybug – are some of the least studied group of invertebrates in East Africa. However, a collaborative effort has been made to address the threat they pose to smallholder farmers: despite their cross-cutting status as pests in all plant groups, crops,…
Kenya faces devastating Prosopis invasion: What can be done
By Purity Rima Mbaabu. Originally published on The Conversation. Woody plant species have been deliberately introduced into many arid and semi-arid regions across the world as they can help combat desertification and provide resources – like fuelwood – to the rural poor. But some of these alien trees and shrubs have become invasive, having devastating effects on other species as…
Reaching more farmers with fall armyworm knowledge and information through ICT-enabled extension
Since 2017, CABI and partners have launched a series of extension campaigns in Kenya and Uganda in the fight against the invasive pest fall armyworm. These campaigns used integrated ICT-enabled approaches combining radio, SMS, and community video screenings with the aim of improving awareness, knowledge and management practices for fall armyworm. Although smallholder agriculture is…
CABI joins international team of scientists calling for a Global Surveillance System to fight crop diseases
CABI has joined an international team of scientists calling for a Global Surveillance System (GSS) to fight a range of diseases which threaten priority crops including maize, potato, cassava, rice, beans and wheat. The team, which includes the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) – lead authors of a new report published in Science (28 June 2019),…
Colony of weevils safely in CABI Pakistan quarantine
A colony of 200 Listronotus (Listronotus setosipennis) have been safely transported from South Africa to Pakistan. The stem mining weevil is a biological control agent against parthenium. CABI’s Dr Philip Weyl, with the help of Dr Lorraine Strathie (ARC-PPRI) successfully imported the weevils into the new quarantine facility at CABI’s Central and Western Asia (CWA)…
Scientists recommend measures to contain rapid woody weed spread in Baringo County, Kenya
A team of international scientists, including CABI’s Dr Urs Schaffner, have recommended ways to manage the devastating spread of the woody weed Prosopis juliflora, where in Baringo County, Kenya, its coverage rapidly increased by 2,031 percent in just 28 years. PhD student Purity Rima Mbaabu, affiliated to the University of Nairobi and co-supervised by Simon…
Invasive species are Australia’s number-one extinction threat
By Andy Sheppard and Linda Broadhurst. Originally published on The Conversation. This week many people across the world stopped and stared as extreme headlines announced that one eighth of the world’s species – more than a million – are threatened with extinction. According to the UN report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services…
Collaborative writeshop produces pest management decision guides for invasive species in Pakistan
Invasive alien species (IAS) have devastating impacts on native biota, causing the decline or even extinction of native species, negatively affecting ecosystems. Invasive plants, animals, insects and microorganisms enter and establish in environments outside of their natural habitat. They reproduce rapidly, out-compete native species for food, water and space, and are one of the main…