New information service to help farmers control pests

The PRISE (Pest Risk Information Service) project forecasts pest outbreaks based on earth observation providing risk forecasts and early warnings in order for smallholders to take action and avoid crop losses. The project has been awarded £6.38 million (or 7,9 million USD) in funding over five years by the UK Space Agency.

CABI CEO, Dr Trevor Nicholls, said, “An estimated 40 per cent of the world’s crops are lost to pests. This impacts the ability of smallholders living in poor rural communities to feed their families." The project will also be based on Plantwise, a CABI program combining a network of plant clinics and an online and offline plant health information platform.

The PRISE consortium is led by CABI and includes Assimila Ltd, King’s College London and STFC Centre for Environmental Data Analysis. Partners also include the Ministries of Agriculture in the initial three countries implied in the project: Kenya, Ghana and Zambia.

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