New Book – Critical Issues of Plant Health: 50 years of research in African agriculture

A new book on Plant health has been published by Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing, in conjunction with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). . Editors are Dr Peter Neuenschwander and Dr Manuele Tamò, both of IITA.

Nteranya Sanginga, Director General of IITA, says “Relentless population increase creates an urgent need for new methods to produce more in a sustainable way on existing cultivated land”. These methods include: “Adopting pragmatic solutions to plant protection to reduce crop losses and quality reduction, including developing resistant crop varieties and applying biological control, application methods of pesticides and perhaps most importantly, good farming practices.”

These solutions are discussed within the book, with 70 contributors directing their research to the common goal of protecting crops in a more sustainable manner – from viral pathogens, to insects, mites, nematodes and weeds. Francis Dodds, Editorial Director at Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing, says “This unique book brings together some of the world’s leading experts on plant health in sub-Saharan Africa to review progress in dealing with the range of biotic threats faced by African farmers, and will be a standard reference on improving the management of pests and diseases in developing countries“. Watch the video in which Francis describes the contents, structure and importance of the book. Download the cover, contents and index pages.