Diagnostic support to plantwise plant doctors in Kenya

Abstract

Effective extension services are essential to provide farmers with skills and knowledge to manage pests and diseases. These services are provided by government agencies, non-governmental organisations, community based organisations as well as various actors in the private sector. Plantwise aims to help farmers lose less of their crops to pests and diseases, through among other strategies, the establishment of networks of plant clinics. Farmers visit these clinics and explain their plant health problems to plant doctors, who are mostly extension agents trained to provide diagnosis and give recommendations for pest management. However, plant doctors need diagnostic support in order to provide accurate diagnosis especially when faced with new pests. This study was carried out in Kenya to establish the diagnostic support available to plant doctors in the country and provide suggestions for improvement. A total of 133 plant doctors were interviewed and plant clinic data in the Plantwise online management system (POMS) database reviewed to find out how often plant doctors indicated the intention to send samples to a diagnostic lab as a follow up action. Plant doctors interviewed were aware of diagnostic services, and 65% indicated an intention to send samples for diagnosis. Thirty per cent of those interviewed had sent samples to a diagnostic centre, and feedback generally took several days with feedback not received in 27% of the cases, suggesting a need to improve coordination between research and extension. Plant doctors using tablet computers had better access to diagnostic support from their peers through their social online network.

Fall Armyworm: Impacts and Implications for Africa

“…The different techniques used to analyse Ghanaian samples has implications for future pest diagnosis and identification, particularly for invading or new pests in developing countries. Currently, extension and research staff in most developing countries rely on limited incountry capacity for identification of pest problems (eg as documented by Mugambi et al (2016) in Kenya), occasionally with external support through programmes such as Plantwise or from international agricultural research centres (Goergen et al 2016). In the case of FAW, once present in Africa the pest was able to establish itself while remaining relatively undetected.…”

Climate-smart pest management: building resilience of farms and landscapes to changing pest threats

“…Enhanced linkages between extension, research and the public/private sector, for example, can help to provide the data and resources required to improve diagnosis of new and emerging pests, inform policies and research agendas, and reduce response time to these pest threats. Particularly in developing countries, extension services need strong linkages to diagnostic support, to help ensure field diagnoses of pests are as accurate as needed to make appropriate recommendations (Cock 2011;Mugambi et al 2016). This will be increasingly essential as the relative importance of crops and pests change in response to climate change and pests spread into new areas where neither extension staff nor farmers are familiar with them.…”

“…Extension staff will also form their own social media groups to exchange images and seek the advice of their peers (e.g. Mugambi et al 2016). Every extension service will develop diagnostic support as best suits the national circumstances.…”