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.
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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.”
THE FACTS ON FALL ARMYWORM
How much do you know about Fall Armyworm? Click this and find out!
SUSTAINABILITY, IT’S IN THE SOIL
By: CropLife International
Fertile and healthy soil is essential for agriculture and a sustainable food supply. Biotech crops and complementary herbicides reduce the need to plough—or till—and help to take care of the world’s arable farm land.
Both biotech crops and crop protection help to facilitate no-till. 10% of the world’s carbon dioxide is stored in the soil and tilling releases that into the atmosphere. The amount of CO2 saved in in one year alone by using herbicide-tolerant biotech crops – that help facilitate no-till – was equal to removing every single car from the streets of London for five years 1.
Click here to see our interactive infographic and learn more about the layers of the soil!
SOIL: AN ESSENTIAL INGREDIENT TO HEALTHY FOOD AND NUTRITION
By: CropLife International
Does healthy soil affect your health? Yes it does!
Check out FAO’s video below to learn about how soil is a key factor in determining the nutritional quality and availability of the food we eat.
SOIL ATLAS OF AFRICA
By: CropLife International
The Soil Atlas of Africa was a collaboration between the European Union, the African Unionand the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to support and encourage the sustainable use of soil resources in Africa. It uses maps, informative text, and photos to answer questions and provide context on the diverse soil landscape in Africa.
The Soil Atlas of Africa used computer mapping techniques to show the changing composition of soil across the continent. It provides detail on the origin, functions, and types of soil. The atlas also discusses the principal threats to soil and the steps being taken to protect it as a resource.
The map below shows the incredible variety of soil types on the African continent and the full atlas is available for download here.
AGROECOLOGY IN ACTION: BUILDING HEALTHIER SOILS AND A HEALTHIER PLANET
Originally published on farmingfirst.org. Article can be found here.
Only healthy soils will be able to fulfill the Herculean task of growing the food our planet requires both now and in the future. In this guest post, Dr. J. Scott Angle, President and CEO of IFDC, discusses how the agroecological approach of Integrated Soil Fertility Management can build healthier soils and a healthier planet. This is the third installment of Farming First’s “Agroecology in Action” series, produced ahead of the Second International Symposium on Agroecology held by the FAO in Rome from 3-5th April 2018.
In the late eighties, the water quality and aquatic life of the Chesapeake Bay were under threat. As human activity and farming in the region had increased, so had its impacts on the local environment.
That is when a group of scientists, including myself, founded the Maryland Centre for Agroecology. Our mission then is how I would define agroecology now – creating a road map to help farmers be productive, while reducing their impact on the environment.
In the case of Chesapeake Bay, this relied a great deal on encouraging farmers to only apply nutrients from the right source, in the right place, at the right time and the right rate (known as the 4Rs of nutrient stewardship). This results in less cost for the farmer, less runoff into the environment, and also allows the plant to use the nutrients that are applied more effectively. Planting cover crops to absorb nutrients before they reach the bay has also gone a long way to solving this challenge.
Pleasing the Wizard and the Prophet
Agroecology seeks to merge two visions of farming: one that seeks to grow the right quantity and quality of food, with one that protects natural resources. These two visions can, and should be balanced to create approaches that can deliver on both objectives.
In Charles C. Mann’s bestselling book “The Wizard and the Prophet”, he personifies these two approaches as scientists Norman Borlaug, hailed as the man who saved a billion lives through his high yielding wheat variety, and William Vogt, the intellectual forefather of the environmental movement, who was fiercely cautious of using more than the environment had to give.
Although the book was unable to reconcile the perspectives of these two men, it is not only possible, but essential that we as global community are able to. We need to produce more food for our growing population – that is an undisputed fact. We will have ten billion people on the planet by 2050, but no additional land or water. So it is agriculture’s job to harness approaches from the environmental community, such as organic or conservation farming that can be integrated into more traditional agriculture.
Integrated Soil Fertility Management: When Organic Meets Mineral
A great example of this is Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM), which relies on application of both organic and mineral fertilizer to achieve optimum soil health. Improving soil health so it can perform natural functions such as carbon capture and water retention is a cornerstone of agroecology. Organic fertilizer is incredibly important, as it is a natural source of nutrients and organic matter. Unfortunately, there is just not enough of it. To have enough manure to produce enough food for the growing population, we would need a great deal more animals on the planet, which have their own impact on the environment. Therefore, farmers should be encouraged to use all the organic matter that they can, and then supplement it with mineral fertilizers. This is Integrated Soil Fertility Management.
Mineral fertilizer can be more precise in directing nutrients to the plant. Custom blends can be produced that address the exact soil deficiencies in the region. They can be coated, to ensure that the nutrient is released slowly over time, in a way that allows the plant to absorb it effectively. They can be compacted into briquettes and placed deep near the roots, which also improves its efficiency.
Fertilizer is in fact responsible for 50 per cent of the food grown worldwide. In regions like Africa, where up to 60 per cent of soils are estimated to be degraded, it is possible to double, if not triple or quadruple yields through the judicious use of the right fertilizer.
But it is not only the crop that can be harvested and eaten or sold that benefits. Crops that have been nourished adequately also have a much larger root system. These are made from carbon dioxide that was pulled out of the atmosphere by the plant, and then incorporated into the soil as soil organic matter. It can be argued, therefore, that the proper use of fertilizer can actually become a solution to the problem of excess greenhouse gases, as it helps us capture carbon out of the atmosphere and tie it up in the soil. When soil has more organic matter, it has greater water holding capacity, it can store more micronutrients and supress disease, but crucially it is able to hold carbon in the soil for tens of thousands of years that would otherwise exist in the atmosphere and contribute to climate change.
It is very important to manage the application of these products appropriately. We would struggle to eliminate them completely, because we have to grow the food we need. The goal instead should be to use them in a way that maximizes their efficiency, which ISFM promotes.
Other ISFM strategies include crop rotation, legume introduction, and crop-livestock integration systems.
For Sunday Oyo, who has benefitted from our 2Scale project in Nigeria, the use of ISFM has unlocked much needed credit to expand his farming business. He gained access to hybrid seeds of tomato, and was educated on good agronomic practices such as trellising the tomatoes to avoid rotting. Thanks to a combination of fertilizers applied in the right quantities and in the right time and place, Sunday was able to quadruple his yields – a feat previously unthinkable.
Sunday Ojo and his family show off their produce.
Fertile and productive soils are vital components of stable societies, and ISFM strategies protect these. As one ancient Sanskrit text states, “Upon this handful of soil our survival depends. Husband it, and it will grow our food, our fuel and our shelter and surround us with beauty. Abuse it and the soil will collapse and die, taking humanity with it.” Our reliance on the soil is as strong today as it was then, and we need to adopt agroecological practices that will help us protect it for future generations that will rely on it too.
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