CABI Technical Editor Jobs in Kenya

CABI Technical Editor Jobs in Kenya

Agricultural extension and advisory services, and plant protection services are challenged in
many countries in Africa.

These challenges include inadequate financial resources, low staff coverage and capacity, weak pest and disease surveillance mechanisms and low priority
allocated to interventions in agriculture despite agriculture being touted as the backbone of
many of these economies.

In the past 10 years, the Eastern African countries of Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, where
the Plantwise programme is being implemented have experienced occurrences of new pest invasions that not only caused huge losses in crop yield but have also increased cost of production for these crops..

These include maize lethal necrosis disease and fall armyworm in maize, tomato leaf miner (Tuta absoluta), potato cyst nematode, papaya mealybug on
pawpaw, Asian citrus psyllid in citrus and fruit flies affecting fruit crops.

Between the months of February and April 2018, a study was conducted to assess the role of Plantwise and the use of ICTs in pest detection and surveillance in Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda.

Data collection was done through interviews with key informants in plant health in
partner countries utilizing the snowballing technique, with respondents selected for purposes
of providing information based on their knowledge and understanding of Plantwise in their respective countries, and their knowledge of the various plant health issues under investigation.

Among the key informants were the Plantwise country teams, staff from partner national research organizations, plant protection departments, plant health inspectorate services, plant doctors, and CABI staff knowledgeable about details for each
pest case.

The study involved: