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TAAT e-catalog for private sector
https://taat.africa/com/technologies/plantwiseplus-knowledge-bank-crop-health-management-library
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PlantwisePlus Knowledge Bank: Crop health management library

Knowledge, resources, and tools for plant health!

The Library is a comprehensive digital resource with over 15,000 crop health documents and tools that support agribusinesses in diagnosing pest threats, improving advisory services, and aligning inputs like biopesticides or IPM solutions with real farmer needs. Key features include pest ID tools, a crop threat diagnostic platform, country-specific datasets, and an email alert system—enabling timely, informed decision-making and value-added services for clients across regions.

2

This technology is pre-validated.

9•9

Scaling readiness: idea maturity 9/9; level of use 9/9

IP

Open source / open access

Problem

  • Pest and disease losses: Unmanaged crop pests and diseases reduce yields and create revenue losses for agribusinesses and their farmer supply chains.
  • Limited diagnostic support: Field teams lack reliable tools to identify crop health problems quickly and provide accurate recommendations to clients.
  • Limited access to updated information: Changing pest threats and climate conditions make it difficult for businesses to keep advisory services up to date.
  • Weak pest monitoring: Limited access to timely pest alerts reduces the ability of businesses to anticipate emerging threats.
  • Risk of ineffective recommendations: Fragmented or unreliable information increases the risk of recommending unsuitable crop protection products or practices.

Solution

  • Expert crop health resources: The Knowledge Bank provides over 15,000 expert-reviewed resources on pests, diseases, and crop health management.
  • Digital diagnostic tools: Pest identification and diagnostic tools help field teams identify crop health threats and provide appropriate recommendations.
  • Localized information: Country-specific crop health information helps businesses provide advice adapted to local conditions.
  • Pest alerts: Email alerts provide timely information on emerging pest threats and support faster advisory responses.
  • Better service quality: Science-based information strengthens staff capacity, advisory services, and business credibility.

Key points to design your business plan

The Crop Health Knowledge Library is a comprehensive digital resource offering over 15,000 expert-reviewed materials on crop health, pest identification, and sustainable pest management practices. It empowers agribusinesses with real-time tools and localized data to improve advisory services, staff training, and product alignment with climate-smart agriculture. To integrate it into your business operations, key activities include:

  • Promotion and Training: Introduce the platform to agronomists, field agents, and technical staff as a reliable source of pest diagnostic tools and crop health knowledge.
  • Service Enhancement: Use the Knowledge Library’s pest alerts and country-specific resources to deliver timely, accurate recommendations to farmers and clients.
  • Technology Adoption: Facilitate the use of the mobile app for offline access to factsheets and advisory materials in remote areas.
  • Strategic Alignment: Integrate the platform’s science-based content into product development, marketing, and farmer education programs to build trust and competitive advantage.

Adults 18 and over: Positive medium

All age ranges over 18 access the Knowlege Bank for crop and country-specific management information. This supports agricultural stakeholders in accessing safe, validated advice on crop pests and diseases to improve yields and reduce crop losses.

Women: Positive medium

The site can be translated into local languages using an internet browser extension (e.g. Google Translate) and is mobile responsive for varying device ages. The Knowledge Bank provides free, localised and practical advice on crop health for women farmers and stakeholders.

Climate adaptability: Moderately adaptable

Where possible, the content has been written for specific climatic locations. However, the information may be applicable to other regions which have been included in the metadata. The knowledge library also contains more general cultural practices which can be applied in various climatic regions.

Farmer climate change readiness: Moderate improvement

Integrate Pest Management (IPM) is a core principle behind creating and publishing content on the Knowledge Bank. IPM helps farmers adapt to and build resilience against climate change by reducing dependencies on chemical pesticides, improving biodiversity and soil health.

Environmental health: Greatly improves environmental health

The Knowledge Bank content and it's IPM principles encourages diversified cropping systems and soil health practices. Healthy agricultural ecosystems are less vulnerable to pest outbreaks and are more resilient to changes in local conditions.

Soil quality: Improves soil health and fertility

The Knowledge Bank content and it's IPM principles promotes the use of alternatives to chemical pesticides where possible, such as biological control agents, holistic treatments and crop varieties. This reduces pesticide resistance and environmental damage.

Scaling Readiness describes how complete a technology's development is and its ability to be scaled. It produces a score that measures a technology's readiness along two axes: the level of maturity of the idea itself, and the level to which the technology has been used so far.

Each axis goes from 0 to 9 where 9 is the “ready-to-scale” status. For each technology profile in the e-catalogs we have documented the scaling readiness status from evidence given by the technology providers. The e-catalogs only showcase technologies for which the scaling readiness score is at least 8 for maturity of the idea and 7 for the level of use.

The graph below represents visually the scaling readiness status for this technology, you can see the label of each level by hovering your mouse cursor on the number.

Read more about scaling readiness ›

Scaling readiness score of this technology

Maturity of the idea 9 out of 9

Uncontrolled environment: validated

Level of use 9 out of 9

Common use by intended users, in the real world

Maturity of the idea Level of use
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Countries with a green colour
Tested & adopted
Countries with a bright green colour
Adopted
Countries with a yellow colour
Tested
Countries with a blue colour
Testing ongoing
Egypt Equatorial Guinea Ethiopia Algeria Angola Benin Botswana Burundi Burkina Faso Democratic Republic of the Congo Djibouti Côte d’Ivoire Eritrea Gabon Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Cameroon Kenya Libya Liberia Madagascar Mali Malawi Morocco Mauritania Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Republic of the Congo Rwanda Zambia Senegal Sierra Leone Zimbabwe Somalia South Sudan Sudan South Africa Eswatini Tanzania Togo Tunisia Chad Uganda Western Sahara Central African Republic Lesotho
Countries where the technology is being tested or has been tested and adopted
Country Testing ongoing Tested Adopted
Algeria –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Angola –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Benin –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Botswana –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Burkina Faso –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Burundi –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Cameroon –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Cape Verde –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Central African Republic –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Chad –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Côte d’Ivoire –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Democratic Republic of the Congo –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Djibouti –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Egypt –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Equatorial Guinea –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Eswatini –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Ethiopia –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Gabon –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Gambia –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Ghana –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Guinea –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Guinea-Bissau –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Kenya –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Lesotho –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Libya –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Madagascar –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Malawi –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Mali –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Mauritania –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Mauritius –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Morocco –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Mozambique –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Namibia –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Niger –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Nigeria –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Republic of the Congo –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Rwanda –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Senegal –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Sierra Leone –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Somalia –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
South Africa –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
South Sudan –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Sudan –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Tanzania –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Togo –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Tunisia –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Uganda –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Western Sahara –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Zambia –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted
Zimbabwe –No ongoing testing –Not tested Adopted

This technology can be used in the colored agro-ecological zones. Any zones shown in white are not suitable for this technology.

Agro-ecological zones where this technology can be used
AEZ Subtropic - warm Subtropic - cool Tropic - warm Tropic - cool
Arid
Semiarid
Subhumid
Humid

Source: HarvestChoice/IFPRI 2009

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals that are applicable to this technology.

Sustainable Development Goal 4: quality education
Goal 4: quality education
Sustainable Development Goal 5: gender equality
Goal 5: gender equality
Sustainable Development Goal 8: decent work and economic growth
Goal 8: decent work and economic growth
Sustainable Development Goal 12: responsible production and consumption
Goal 12: responsible production and consumption

  1. The platform is open access and free to use — no cost to browse and access global and country-specific crop health resources.
  2. Creating a free account lets you save content into personal folders, making it easy to organize, print, and share relevant materials.
  3. For use in areas with limited internet, download the PlantwisePlus Factsheet Library App on Android or iOS.
  4. The app allows you to download country-specific packages of factsheets and resources for offline access anytime, anywhere.
  5. Use built-in tools such as pest identification aids, diagnostic tools, and pest alert services to support decision-making in the field.
  6. Subscribe to email pest alerts tailored to your country to receive timely updates about emerging crop threats.

Last updated on Sep 21, 2026