Review of plant health clinics: a recent phenomenon for effective plant pests and diseases diagnosis

Plant health clinic is a mechanism in which farmers are able to access basic plant healthcare and services from relevant authority in relation to infested or suspected infested plants and plant products for diagnostic purposes. Plant health clinic is an integral part of the plant health system which provides early pest diagnostic and advisory services to farmers. In this paper, it can be further defined as a basic plant healthcare rendered to farmers to enhance and improve plant production thereby diagnosing plant pests and diseases with the aim of employing appropriate pest management strategy. In many countries, plant health clinics operators are extension experts, plant doctors, inspectors and scientists within government and NGOs. Extension support in particular is critical in the operation of plant health clinics. The purpose of this paper is to provide a global overview of plant clinic as a recent ways of plant diseases diagnosis. This paper concluded that plant health clinics are valuable tools which need to be adopted by various countries for smallholder farmers to understand more about plant pests and diseases as well as management strategy. To the contrary, many countries are dependent on national diagnostic services as opposed to basic plant healthcare which is more accessible to the smallholders. This review paper further revealed that plant health clinics’ knowledge, awareness, accessibility and satisfaction of the smallholder farmers are very important. Plant clinics may not efficiently and effectively operate in the absence of the aforementioned aspects. Plant clinics were found to be the most efficient way to reach smallholder farmers for advice.

Evolving Plant Diagnostics During a Pandemic

The National Plant Diagnostic Network (NPDN), comprising diagnostic professionals from more than 70 pathology, entomology, and nematology laboratories, safeguards U.S. plant systems through accurate diagnosis and effective communications with clients, partners, and stakeholders. As a USDA-NIFA extension program built on the land-grant university system, the network has dual responsibilities to extension clientele such as farmers and the green industry, as well as state and federal regulatory agencies. Following strategic planning in 2019, the network emerged with a concise plan and strong committees of network participants to enhance and sustain service to NPDN clientele and partners, even through significant disruptions like the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. The commitment to building diagnostic capacity and expertise across the country allows these plant clinics to assist during a response to detections of high-consequence plant pathogens by clearing healthy plants for commerce while identifying potential positives for regulators to quarantine and/or eradicate, similar to the test and trace efforts for human diseases such as COVID-19. In this review, we describe the network’s recent activities to protect U.S. plant agriculture and natural ecosystems and its plans to improve and expand capacity for national plant biosecurity.

An Assessment of Different Tools used in Monitoring of Plant Clinics in Nepal

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Sustainable Pest Management through Improved Advice in Agricultural Extension

This 5-year study addresses how improved quality of agricultural extension may lead to more sustainable pest management. We studied 112 agricultural extension workers trained as plant doctors under the Plantwise program in China. They run 70 plant clinics in Beijing, Guangxi, and Sichuan provinces. We analysed 47,156 recommendations issued by these plant doctors to 13,051 different growers between 2012 and 2017, and this for 250 different plant health problems on 91 crops. We also interviewed growers who had taken queries to plant clinics. On average, 86% of plant doctors provided comprehensive integrated pest management recommendations to the growers, with a 16% improvement in comprehensiveness over years. This most often included advice of synthetic pesticides (66%) with its frequency not much changing with time. In contrast, as a likely result of Plantwise interventions and China’s pesticide reduction policies, recommendations for biological control increased from 2% to 42%, pest monitoring by 8%, and cultural control by 11%. Recommendations of problematic plant protection agents as listed in the Montreal Protocol, Stockholm or Rotterdam convention, or as highly toxic under WHO’s toxicity classification were already rare in 2013 (1.9%) and nearly phased out by 2017 (0.2%). About 92% of growers implemented the advice, suggesting that agricultural extension services may contribute to changes in agricultural practices at scale. Further investment in such agricultural extension services may be warranted instead of phasing them out.

Plant clinics in Peru and the hidden enemies of agriculture

The Plant Clinics (PCs), with CABI Plantwise Program (Centre for Agricultural Bioscience International), were officially initiated in Peru in 2012 by an agreement signed with the INIA (National Institute of Agrarian Innovation). Under this Agreement, PCs were originally established in four Experimental Stations (EEA) located in four regions of Peru, to subsequently include 4 more, making a total of 8 regions with different agro-ecologies (Jungle: Tarapoto; Sierra: Cajamarca, Huancayo, Ayacucho, Cusco and Puno; Coast: Chiclayo and Lima). These PCs have the presence of a "Plant Doctor" (PDs), an INIA technician, duly trained in Plant Health, who once a week at a certain place provides services to farmers who bring samples of their "sick" crops”. Examined the sample by the PDs, records the symptoms and diagnosis in a database platform. Then PDs provide the farmer with the most convenient recommendations within an Integrated Management of the relevant crop. The PDs also carry out “Health Campaigns” on the main problems detected in the CPs, as well as field visits, providing “Flying Sheets”, written in a simple and precise way for the identification of phytosanitary problems and their respective management. The information kept in a Data Bank has allowed to know crops with the highest demand and the incidence and severity of their pests and diseases in the eight regions of Perú.