Widespread uptake of CSA practices heavily depends on well-performing (public or private) extension and advisory systems. The plantwise programme, implemented in 34 countries in Africa, Asia and the Americas, illustrates how complementary extension approaches can contribute to putting CSA research into use and address climate change mitigation and adaptation based on their reach and impact potential.

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Plantwise: an approach for extension
delivery at scale
Luca Heeb, Plantwise Programme Support Officer, CABI Switzerland
Babar Bajwa, Regional Director Central and West Asia, CABI Pakistan
Central Asia Climate Smart Agriculture Workshop, Bishkek 12-14 July 2016

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● Processes towards effective and inclusive
extension delivery based on Plantwise framework
● Value of digital technologies (knowledge
hubs/banks, mobile, tablets, serious
games/simulations) for improving extension
delivery, capacity building, monitoring and quality
assurance
● Importance of plant pest and disease
management under changing climate
Topics

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Plantwise is a global programme, led by CABI, to
improve farmers’ access to practical knowledge at
local level and help them increase food security and
food safety. The success of Plantwise is dependent
on the over 200 national extension providers
What is Plantwise?
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Barbados
Bolivia
Brazil
Costa Rica
Grenada
Honduras
Jamaica
Nicaragua
Peru
Trinidad &
Tobago
Colombia*
Chile*
Africa
Burkina Faso
DR Congo
Ethiopia
Ghana
Kenya
Malawi
Mozambique
Rwanda
Sierra Leone
Tanzania
Uganda
Zambia
Cote d’Ivoire*
South Africa*
Asia
Afghanistan
Bangladesh
Cambodia
China
India
Myanmar
Nepal
Pakistan
Sri Lanka
Thailand
Vietnam
DPR Korea*
The Americas
* Countries being considered to join Plantwise
in 2016/2017
4.5 million farmers reached 6,000 staff trained Knowledge Bank
With over 10,000 factsheets

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Process towards an effective extension delivery
Open
access
Restricted
access
Extension worker shares data with
institutions
Institutions issue best
practice guides / policies
Extension worker provides
management advice
Extension worker consults
knowledge bank
Knowledge bank
supports giving the right advice
Farmer visits
extension worker
Knowledge, Information, Data

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Extension delivery

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Knowledge Bank (open access)
Tools
Reference
material
Country-
specific
information

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●Data repository for sensitive information
●Administrative info. / activities / targets
●Data used for e.g.:
o Understand farmers’ problems, perceptions
and knowledge
o M&E (e.g. Monitor advisory service quality)
o Identify new and emerging pests (vigilance –
invasives)
o Identify research and training needs
o etc.
Plantwise on-line
management system
Knowledge Bank (restricted access)

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Data into use – a few examples
Example 1: Aggregation of data

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www.plantwise.org
Data key
Plant clinic

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Data key
Plant clinic
Crop growing area

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Data into use – a few examples (cont’d)
● Example 2: Comparison of private
vs. public extension providers
● No significant differences between
public and private sector-run plant
clinics, in terms of number and
gender of farmers served, quality
advice, IPM-based advice, etc.
● Example 3: Analysis of gender-
disaggregated data
● E.g. Women extension workers in
Bolivia attract significantly more
female farmers than their male
counterparts

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Digital technologies for extension workers
● Tablets for data collection
o Tablets improve data collection;
o 5 times faster than paper based
systems
o 4 times more data
● Simulations (serious games) to
reinforce basic principles while
capturing data to assess decision
making performance
Simulator 2: ICM
Simulator 1: diagnostics

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www.plantwise.org
Thank you
We wish to acknowledge the support of our donors, as well
as our national and international partners who make
Plantwise possible