By: CropLife International
Banana Boss, Golden Guy, the Lawful Lentil and more make up the Nutritious Nine! See their stats and superpowers and learn about how all nine of them can help people every day.
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#CROPTECH INNOVATION SERIES: EPISODE 2 – BIOLOGICALS
#CROPTECH INNOVATION SERIES: EPISODE 1 – ACTIVE INGREDIENTS
Imagine spending $50 every minute for 11 years! That’s what the crop protection industry does to develop cutting edge products for farmers. Only through investment in innovation can we help farmers deal with the ever-increasing threat from crop pests, while also meeting more exacting societal expectations for pesticide products that are safe for human health and the environment. Watch our #CropTech innovation video series to discover the innovations that are changing the face of the crop protection industry.
THE REAL IMPACT OF PRE-HARVEST LOSSES
Losses due to pests cost farmers billions of dollars and are a preventable problem in food’s journey from the field to the plate. Watch this video to learn more about the real impact of pre-harvest losses:
FACTS ON FOOD LOSS
How much food is lost before harvest? How much money does that cost?
Check out some hard-hitting facts on food loss!
PRE-HARVEST PROBLEMS
Did you know that between 26 and 40 percent of the world’s potential crop production is lost annually because of weeds, pests and diseases? Check out this infographic for more about how plant science can offer solutions.
SUPPORTING ASIA’S FARMERS PRODUCE MORE FOOD FOR A GROWING PLANET HIGHLIGHTED ON WORLD POPULATION DAY 2018
Singapore, 11 July 2018 – As Asia and others around the globe recognize World Population Day, CropLife Asia and the region’s plant science industry repledged their commitment to provide farmers with agricultural innovations that can help them grow more food to feed the growing population while tackling challenges such as the increasing impact of climate change. World Population Day is celebrated each year to focus attention on the urgency and importance of population issues.
According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the global population is expected to reach roughly 10 billion by 2050. To meet the population growth demands, the FAO also estimates food production will have to increase by 50% globally.
Meanwhile, the detrimental effect climate change is having on farmers trying to produce more food presents a growing dilemma. Studies show climate change could cause a decline of as much as 23% in production across major crops such as maize, wheat, rice and soybeans by 2050. Due to climate change, the protein content for staple crops like barley, rice, wheat and potatoes is also vulnerable to reduction. Other research indicates that zinc and iron content of staple crops could also be impacted; specifically, iron concentrations with maize are projected to fall by as much as 10% according to International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA). This development would put around 1.4 billion children at risk of major iron deficiencies by 2050.
“Ensuring farmers are equipped to produce more food for a growing population is not a responsibility for one industry on World Population Day alone, it’s a commitment all food chain stakeholders share together every single day of the year,” said Dr. Siang Hee Tan, Executive Director of CropLife Asia. “The plant science industry in Asia takes this commitment very seriously and continues to work with regional governments, civil society and others to help farmers produce more food in face of increasing challenges and with fewer impacts on the world around us.”
Since the adoption of biotech crops in 1996, 183 million hectares of land have been saved from plowing and cultivation. Additionally, global economic gains contributed by biotech crops from 1996-2016 helped alleviate poverty through uplifting the economic situation of 16-17 million smallholder farmers and their families worldwide.
The innovations of crop protection technology are also helping farmers not only produce abundant, safe, quality food at affordable prices but also increase yields. Since 1960, crop protection products have helped triple the production of major crops. Food crops compete with 30,000 species of weeds, 3,000 species of nematodes and 10,000 species of plant-eating insects, all of which if left unmitigated would destroy up to 40% of the world’s food production each year.
About CropLife Asia
CropLife Asia is a non-profit society and the regional organization of CropLife International, the voice of the global plant science industry. We advocate a safe, secure food supply, and our vision is food security enabled by innovative agriculture. CropLife Asia supports the work of 15 member associations across the continent and is led by seven member companies at the forefront of crop protection, seeds and/or biotechnology research and development. For more information, visit us at www.croplifeasia.org.
For more information please contact:
Duke Hipp
Director, Public Affairs
CropLife Asia
Tel: (65) 6221 1615
WANTED: THE RAVENOUS REBEL
Fall Armyworm is responsible for ruining millions of tons of maize in Africa meant for human consumption.
BT TECHNOLOGY HELPS PROTECT CROPS FROM FALL ARMYWORM
Article originally published here
By Mark Edge
Insects can be both helpful and harmful to farmers growing crops. In the case of the highly invasive Fall Armyworm, they’re devastating and destructive. With no effective natural predators, this pest rapidly reproduces and causes significant crop damage, reducing the yields needed to meet a growing demand for food, fuel and fiber.
While the Fall Armyworm is commonly found in the U.S. and is a prominent pest in Brazil, it is migrating and taking its destructive nature with it. In 2016, Fall Armyworm was first spotted in West Africa and immediately caused major concerns about food security. Since then, the pest has destroyed maize—a staple food for over 300 million people—in over 30 African countries.
“Farmers in sub-Saharan Africa heavily rely on maize and produce it for direct consumption,” said Mark Edge, Director of Collaboration for Developing Countries at Monsanto. “As Fall Armyworm becomes more prevalent and established, a major food source is jeopardized.”
Genetically modified (GM) crops do not yet have regulatory approval in most African countries. To promote understanding and acceptance of a crop that could benefit so many farmers, in 2008, Monsanto entered a public-private partnership to develop Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and USAID. Monsanto provided the royalty-free use of drought-tolerant and insect resistant maize traits to WEMA in a collaborative partnership that strives to improve food security and livelihoods among smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa.
Non-Bt vs Bt Maize after natural Fall Armyworm infestation – Uganda, January 2018
Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is a naturally occurring soil bacterium that can be used to control insects. Through biotechnology, scientists can use Bt proteins to develop crops that help farmers protect against insect damage and destruction. When targeted insects eat the plant, the Bt proteins bind to specific receptors in the insect stomach, which ultimately kills the insect. Bt is not harmful to humans, other mammals, birds, fish, or beneficial insects, because their stomachs don’t have the same receptors and they simply break down the Bt protein into harmless amino acids. The use of Bt crops reduces the need for pesticides, helping farmers strategically and efficiently manage and use inputs. With the help of Bt maize, farmers in Africa could protect their crops from damage from Fall Armyworm and other invasive pests.
“Bt maize was introduced over 20 years ago, and has now been in South Africa for 15 years,” shared Edge. “However, Bt as an applied biological control has been around for over 50 years, and has been used around the world by farmers and gardeners as an insect control product.”
This technology has revolutionized insect pest management in the U.S., Brazil, Argentina and many other countries. It has proven to be a safe, effective way to combat pests and help ensure bountiful harvests. “When farmers plant their crop, they start with hopes to reap the full genetic potential in the seed they purchased,” said Edge. “Bt maize helps protect that genetic potential and minimizes the negative impact of insects like Fall Armyworm. It would be an excellent addition to the crop protection toolbox for farmers in Africa.”
FARMERS NEED LONG-TERM AND SHORT-TERM SOLUTIONS TO COMBAT FALL ARMYWORM IN KENYA
By: CropLife International
Fall Armyworm has arrived in Kenya to stay, but while the government develops a long-term strategy, farmers need ready and accessible solutions now.
From a distance, Wycliffe Ngoda’s two acres of shiny green maize crops look healthy and lush. But the tell-tale holes in the leaves and debris on the stems give away an increasingly dangerous secret hidden in more and more maize fields across Kenya and sub-Saharan Africa. The rampant Fall Armyworm caterpillar is once again threatening harvests across the continent for a second year.
The pest, which arrived in Africa from the Americas in 2016, affected around 50,000 hectares of maize in Kenya alone last year, costing 25 per cent of the crop, according to government officials.
This year, the losses could be as high as 50 per cent, threatening Kenya’s food security and farmers’ economic security in a country where the average annual consumption of maize surpasses 100kg per person.
Signs of the Fall Armyworm on maize crops in Mbale, Vihiga county, Kenya.
“This is one of the deadliest crop pests in the world,” said Dr B.M. Prasanna, director of the global maize programme at CGIAR’s International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT), based in Nairobi. “It can have as many as six life cycles in a year and each female moth can lay as many as 1,500 to 2,000 eggs.
“There’s no single solution that will fight it in all the smallholder contexts. But we’re not starting from scratch.”
Government delegates and experts have recently travelled to Brazil to learn how Fall Armyworm is controlled in the Americas, including the use of pest-resistant varieties of maize.
Scientists at the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) have also found improved yields in controlled trials of transgenic crops as part of the Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) initiative.
A scientist at the African Agricultural Technology Foundation labs in Nairobi working on plant material.
But while the Kenyan government considers such developments as part of a long-term strategy to reduce the impact of Fall Armyworm, the pest continues to pose a threat in the short-term.
In their desperation to ward off the caterpillar, which can reach the size of a little finger, some farmers even resorted to mixing homemade pesticides.
“I came across Fall Armyworm last year,” said Mr Ngoda, 65, from Mbale, Vihiga county. “We were taken unaware. It’s something that had not occurred here before. The attack was very fast and furious.
“We started looking for local solutions. We took liquid detergents and mixed it with some ash. Eventually we succeeded in fighting it off but the damage was already done. I lost about 50 per cent of my crop, others lost 70 per cent.
“We were using local innovations but it was more like guesswork.”
Lucas Wekesa, a plant doctor with CABI, teaches farmers how to identify Fall Armyworm on their crops.
This year, Mr Ngoda said he was better prepared thanks to training in detection and responsible pesticide use provided by the county government and NGOs such as Farm Input Promotions Africa (FIPs-Africa). He said he had applied pesticide to his crops once so far.
The advice included treating crops with pesticides in the morning or afternoon when the caterpillars are active, and spraying to the side to avoid direct contact with the product. FIPs-Africa also contracts specialist sprayers to help farmers safely apply the correct pesticide.
In the meantime, Kenya’s Pest Control Products Board (PCPB) has fast-tracked its approval process for products that can help tackle Fall Armyworm to help address the threat in the short-term. But the challenge in rural areas is ensuring the best advice and information reaches the smallholders.
Wycliffe Ngoda, 65, and his grandson inspect their maize crop for Fall Armyworm at his farm in Mbale, Kenya.
CropLife Kenya organises popular county farmer training sessions every month and CABI has more than 120 PlantWise clinics across Kenya where smallholders can bring in samples of their damaged crop to get expert advice on the necessary remedy.
But more is needed to teach farmers how to live with a pest that is here to stay.
“I wish we had more people,” said Mr Ngoda. “Sometimes, farmers don’t seek solutions and expert advice. We need more surveillance and on farm visits.
“I’m normally guaranteed 40 bags minimum. Last year, I didn’t get 20. I thank God I have a small family and none of them are going to school, otherwise it would have been a total disaster.”