40 procent af alle fødevareprodukter fra landbruget går tabt til skadedyr og sygdomme, så folk står i kø i nye gratis “planteklinikker” for at få råd mod allehånde lidelser i deres afgrøder – Plantwise-programmet står nu bag klinikker i 24 udviklingslande, mange af dem i Afrika.
MUKONO, 22 October 2013 (IRIN): Using a sharp kitchen knife, “plant doctor” Daniel Lyazi sets to work dissecting a slime-covered cabbage (kål) at a farmers’ market in Mukono, central Uganda, where the devastating cassava brown streak disease was first identified in 2004.
“There is a small caterpillar (larve) which is eating the cabbage and according to me it is a diamond-back moth (natsommerfugl),” he tells the group of farmers who crowd around his table.
He advises the cabbage grower to switch to a different pesticide and in the next season inter-plant with onions (as an additional repellent (afskrækkende middel) to moths), and fills out a form with this prescription before turning to the next “patient”, an under-sized cassava tuber (rod).
“Plant clinics” like this one, free of charge and open to all, were piloted in Mukono from 2006 and in the past year have been scaled out to 45 (out of 112) of Uganda’s local government districts, according to the UK-based Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience (CABI).
Plant doctor is not an official title; the term has been adopted by CABI for the 1.000 agricultural extension workers it has helped to train as part of its Plantwise programme.
Since 2010 Plantwise has set up plant clinics in 24 countries, (three in West Africa and nine in East Africa). In August it opened 13 in Zambia.
Great losses
Plant pests (skadedyr) and diseases are major threats to food security and livelihoods in most developing countries.
CABI cites research suggesting that worldwide, 40 percent of the value of plants for food is lost to pests and diseases – (15 percent to insects and 13 percent each to weeds (ukrudt) and pathogens (sygdomme)) – before they can be harvested by farmers.
That research dates from 1994 and did not cover some staple crops (grundnæringsmidler), such as cassava, for which the losses to brown streak disease alone have been 30-70 percent in the Great Lakes region, according to the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA).
Crop scientist Eric Boa, who pioneered plant clinics for CABI, says:
“The variety of pests and diseases [in eastern and central Africa] is daunting (skræmmende). Clinic data reveal the farmers present problems on over 30 crops, and plant doctors have to consider over 60 different pests and diseases.”
Farmers’ need for advice was evident at Lyazi’s clinic in Mukono.
During a three-hour session, consultations were non-stop and 17 farmers were given detailed recommendations, both verbally and on “prescription” sheets.
Asked if they had been benefiting from the clinics, Erifazi Mayanja, the head of a local farmers’ group, said:
“Of course. That is why we have come in great number today, because of the good advice we are getting.’
Plant clinics versus extension workers
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http://www.irinnews.org/report/98982/plant-clinics-take-root-in-uganda
