• Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

Plantwise Burundi has set up plant clinics

ByWebmaster

Oct 19, 2022

BUJUMBURA October 19th (ABP) – Plantwise Burundi has already opened more than 50 plant clinics currently operating in 8 provinces of Burundi: Bubanza, Bujumbura, Cibitoke, Gitega, Kayanza, Muramvya, Mwaro and Ngozi, while sixty-nine (69) additional plant clinics will be set up by November 2022, according to a press release from that global program run by CABI (Commonwealth Agricultural Bureau) and whose goal is to help farmers lose less of what they grow following phytosanitary problems.

The press release specifies that Plantwise is operational in more than 35 countries and is implemented in Burundi by the Institute of Agronomic Sciences of Burundi, ISABU, in close collaboration with CABI with the support of NUFFIC (Dutch Program) and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Burundi.

A total of 119 plant clinics will be opened and more than 238 plant doctors have been trained to make them operational.

Plantwise is also organizing a series of phytosanitary rallies and mass outreach campaigns in Burundi to sensitize farmers about diseases and pests that affect crops, plant health and best practices to address them in order to lose less of what they produce. Organized in more than 60 villages in the provinces of Gitega, Ngozi and Cibitoke in close collaboration with the ministry in charge of Agriculture and ISABU; the rallies will reach over 4,000 farming households that will get free practical information on pest issues attacking priority crops such as banana bacterial wilt (BXW), potato late blight, tomato tuta absoluta (phthorimaea) and maize fall armyworm which are common problems in the country.

Those rallies complement more than 50 plant clinics currently operating in the 8 provinces of Burundi.

According to the press release, the key intervention of the Plantwise program in Burundi is the establishment of plant clinics in the country. Run by locally trained plant doctors, plant clinics operate like clinics for human health: farmers visit with samples of their crops, and plant doctors diagnose the problem and make scientific recommendations on how to manage it. Recently, CABI also partnered with AUXFIN (Financial and Social inclusion for All) in Burundi, to empower over 400,000 farming households through AgriCoach. The app helps smallholder farmers improve their agricultural production and income by providing farmers with information and knowledge on what types of crops to grow, the best time to grow their crops, including best practices for sustainable agricultural production.

It is said through that press release that Plantwise is operational in more than 35 countries and is implemented in Burundi by ISABU in close collaboration with CABI with the support of NUFFIC and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Burundi.