plant health Archives

IYPH integrated pest and disease management

The third of four webinars earmarked by CGIAR to celebrate the International Year of Plant Health was held on 10 March 2021. The webinar focused on “Integrated Pest and Disease Management” and examined the different collaborative approaches employed in the sustainable management of transboundary pests and crop diseases, looking at how they impact our food…

CGIAR Germplasm Health Units contributing to global phytosanitary systems

Quarantine and phytosanitary procedures have been established in all countries worldwide to address seed-borne pests spread by screening export and import consignments of germplasm. The CGIAR Germplasm Health Units (GHUs) use a unique multidisciplinary approach to ensure phytosanitary protection for the safe conservation and global movement of germplasm from the 11 CGIAR genebanks and breeding…

Scientists discuss ways to manage climate risks in protecting plant health

CGIAR, in conjunction with various partners including the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), has launched a series of webinars to celebrate the International Year of Plant Health (IYPH), which continues in 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic disruption. The four-webinar series is themed “Unleashing the Potential of Plant Health.” The first webinar, “Climate change and…

IITA to lead One-Health in Ghana-Benin under AICCRA Project

In a bid to help African countries strengthen the resilience of their agricultural sector against the threat posed by climate change, a $60 million grant has been awarded for the ‘Accelerating the Impact of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa’ (AICCRA) project. The project will concentrate its activities in six countries: Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Senegal,…

Scientists discuss better ways to protect plant health

Every year, the Germplasm Health Units (GHUs) of the CGIAR Centers organize the “Phytosanitary Awareness Week”. This year, the event was themed, “Phytosanitary safety for the prevention of the transboundary spread of pests and pathogens,” and took place from 9 to 13 November to highlight the International Year of Plant Health (IYPH 2020). The CGIAR Centers set up the…

Do not forget Plant Health in the One Health approach says IITA scientist

The One Health approach, which looks at the interconnectedness between human, animal, and environmental health, should also emphasize plant health, says IITA’s plant health pathologist for the Eastern Africa hub, George Mahuku. Speaking at a seminar at IITA-Tanzania on 3 November, Mahuku said, “There is an urgent need to recognize the interconnection between plant health…

IITA trains partners on ODK tools for surveillance of new banana disease threat, Fusarium wilt (Foc TR4)

IITA recently conducted a two-day training for national partners from the agriculture plant health services and plant protection departments in Tanzania and Vietnam. The workshop focused on using the Open Data Kit (ODK) tool to facilitate real-time surveillance of invasive pests and diseases in the banana cropping system, including the recent soil-borne fungal disease threat,…

Harnessing insect biodiversity for sustainable plant health in tropical Africa

Fall armyworm (FAW), a ravaging pest of the maize plant, is spreading globally. Every year, Africa, Asia, and the Near East lose 80 million tons of maize worth US$18 billion to the damaging effects of FAW. Georg Goergen, IITA Entomologist and Biocontrol Specialist based in Cotonou, highlighted past and ongoing efforts to control the spread…

Science-based policies can unlock Africa’s access to genome-edited crop varieties

CGIAR-IITA head of plant biotechnology Leena Tripathi has made an impassioned plea for genome editing and its potential. She made the call in a recently published paper titled, CRISPR/Cas9-based genome editing of banana for disease resistance. Tripathi and her Kenya-based team are using gene editing to develop disease-resistant banana varieties. “To boost the use of…

Production and distribution of Aflasafe KE01TM continue despite COVID-19 restrictions

As Kenya puts in place measures to protect the lives of its citizens from the devastating coronavirus disease, COVID-19, efforts to also protect lives by ensuring food is safe and free from the devastating aflatoxin have been going on. The team from the Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) and the International Institute of…