Poor farmers across Sierra Leone now have better and more regular access to reliable advice on plant health problems, after a Global Plant Clinic (GPC) pilot project provided the Sierra Leone government with a way forward.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Security in Sierra
Leone approved a proposal to open plant health clinics, based on the
successful GPC model, in each of its 13 districts earlier this year.
The project was awarded a grant of US$80,000 for the first year, and
already seven clinics are up and running with more planned to open over
the coming months.
The world’s poorest people rely on their crops for basic survival
and for them pests and diseases are a constant threat. The Sierra Leone
initiative is just one example of how the GPC is making a real and
lasting impact on the lives of poor farmers. The GPC has helped to
establish more than 80 plant health clinics in nine countries
throughout Latin America, Africa and Asia, with pilot clinics in
another nine countries.
The plant doctors who staff the clinics advise farmers on plant
health problems in the same way as medical doctors and vets.
Consultations usually take place once a week in public places, such as
markets or village meeting areas. Farmers bring along samples of their
diseased crops for plant doctors to diagnose and prescribe safe,
affordable and locally available solutions.
"There is no tradition of plant healthcare for smallholder farmers,"
says Dr Eric Boa, Head of the GPC. "Farmers rely on help from NGOs,
farmer associations and research and technology organisations but their
support is poorly coordinated. Resources are poor but much can be
achieved by running Plant health clinics."
"The GPC and its many partners are filling a gap by giving thousands
of farmers access to regular and reliable on-the-spot advice on any
crop and its problems. The majority of clinic users have never have had
such services before and they warmly welcome this innovation. Extension
workers and researchers also welcome the opportunity to collaborate."
As well as setting-up, training and supporting the development of
plant healthcare systems, the GPC is actively involved in surveillance
of crop diseases. The GPC’s main office, located at CABI
in the UK, has an expert diagnostic service with an international
reputation and can accept diseased plant samples from all countries.
Samples received at the laboratory usually can’t be diagnosed
in-country because the necessary expertise is lacking or absent.
The diagnostic service receives more than 500 samples each year from
more than 80 countries. The GPC is closely involved in identifying new
diseases and has published 31 new disease records with its global
partners since 2001, 11 from Africa alone. Rothamsted Research and CSL
both play a strong role in providing diagnostic expertise that is hard
to find and difficult to access for farmers and national plant
protection organisations who need the most help.
The GPC, with funding provided by DFID, has been making an
extraordinary contribution to developing a healthcare service for
plants and its role continues to grow. "The job has expanded hugely
over the last five years," says Dr Boa. "Our scientific expertise and
development experience has allowed us to move out of the lab and into
the field. We work with many more grassroots organisations, encouraging
them to run their own plant health clinics. But they can’t do this by
themselves, and our role is also to advocate and build stronger links
between clinics and other support services. There’s still much to do,
but already we see independent initiatives that promise better services
for more farmers in more places."
Poor farmers across Sierra Leone now have better and more regular access to reliable advice on plant health problems, after a 
