Plant health clinics in Bolivia 2000—2009: operations and preliminary results

Abstract

Plant health clinics, Bolivia, National plant healthcare systems, Research/extension links, Global plant clinic,

Innovations in Plant Health Services in Nicaragua: From Grassroots Experiment to a Systems Approach

“…Efforts to reduce pesticides have had local success, but major misuse still persists (e.g. Bentley, ). The focus on a limited range of major crops and mostly insect pests has ignored many crops that smallholders rely on, whereas diseases and abiotic plant health problems have received less attention (Marsh, ).…”

“…The initiative benefited from capacities and network linkages developed by past interventions. The innovation in Bolivia (Bentley et al, ) stimulated the innovation in Nicaragua. A willingness to take risks, permission from respected colleagues, joint learning, flexible programme management and creative and visionary individuals allowed ideas and concepts for a plant health system to evolve.…”

“…This idea was inspired by the work of Global Plant Clinic—Centre for Agricultural Bioscience International (GPC‐CABI), which had already helped establish plant clinics in other countries (Boa, ). The first plant clinics started in Bolivia in 2003 in collaboration with Centro de Investigación Agrícola Local (CIAT) and Fundación Promoción e Investigación de Productos Andinos (Bentley et al , ).…”

“…In 2005, plant health clinics for farmers began operating in public places in Nicaragua, inspired by an earlier scheme in Bolivia (Bentley et al , ). New alliances formed around an initiative to establish a small number of plant health clinics run by local organisations (Danielsen and Fernández, ).…”

Coverage and access of plant clinic in Nepal

“…Plant clinic is a novel approach in the agricultural extension services of Nepal. It is a demand driven extension service which focuses on diverse crops and technologies (Adhikari et al, 2013), aims to reduce the unnecessary application of chemical pesticides (Bentley et al, 2009). It links research and extension, discovers new crop problems (Boa & Harling, 2008), acts as an early warning system for new pests and diseases, supports quarantine function (Adhikari et al, 2013), provides pest surveillance function in the particular location, updates the extension service providers to solve the farmer's technical problems, improves quality of services and provides plant health extension services to small holder farmers.…”