Agricultural technology tools can help alleviate poverty for many people

Agricultural technology tools can help alleviate poverty for many people

Adriel Dave ‘AD’ Alvarez*

The year 2023 is very exciting in the Philippines! Farmers are now allowed to plant Bt eggplants. This will give us better yields and more economic opportunities!

Last fall, Philippine government regulators finally approved commercialization of Bt eggplant following years of evaluation. The Philippines is now the second country in the world, following Bangladesh, to enable farmers to use one of the best innovations in agricultural science to defeat a voracious pest that poses a constant threat to this precious vegetable.

This is going to make a big difference for the production of our farm, for the farmers who will use this technology and for the consumers. This is very good news for my mission farm in the Îles Sweet Potatoeswhere I farm as part of a project to alleviate poverty on this island and elsewhere.

When my wife and I started the farm in 2010, we practiced the organic farming system. We grew dent white maize varieties, primarily for human consumption as maize grits, and produced regarding 600 kilograms of shelled maize per hectare. Since this yield was neither efficient nor profitable, we had to do better, but I had no idea what it might be until we tried Bt corn varieties that were already available.

The results amazed me: in 2016, when we fully adopted Bt maize, we got a yield of around 8,400 kg per hectare.

The reason for this huge improvement is simple. Biotechnology gives our corn a special ability to fight off the worm that always wants to feast on our crops. If it is not protected, we can lose 30 to 60% of our return.

Since then, our operation has had its ups and downs: commodity prices have fluctuated, bad weather and a deadly pandemic have battered us, and it has become more difficult to obtain credit from banks. However, I have become a strong supporter of the scientific tool that is biotechnology. For farmers, it is an essential production tool.

In my opinion, we need to apply this technology to as many cultures as possible.

Unfortunately, many governments around the world have been slow to accept GMOs. But we are seeing a positive change, as more and more information regarding GMOs reaches farmers and regulators. In the Philippines, 2021 is the year regulators moved beyond GM maize by allowing the commercialization of Golden Rice, a GM product that has the potential to solve the nutritional problem of vitamin A deficiency, which can lead to blindness and other problems.

Now, with the approval of Bt eggplant in October 2022, we can improve the food known in our local dialect as “ Eggplant “. With approximately 21,000 ha of eggplant planted each year in the Philippines, it is a staple in diets and an important crop on many farms.

The example of Bangladesh shows that Bt eggplant can both increase yields and reduce dependence on pesticides. We are certain to achieve similar results in the Philippines, and I believe we will reduce our input costs by up to 30%. This innovation will make agriculture more profitable for farmers and food more available and affordable for consumers.

Our farm’s experience demonstrates the great need for this excellent technology.

Last year we grew around 18,000 individual eggplant plants on one hectare – and we were losing over 50% of our weekly yield to the eggplant fruit and stem borer (EFSB), a horrible parasite that ravages crops.

In September, I recorded a video of my farm to show the threat of borers. Often an eggplant looks healthy from the outside. But close inspection reveals the presence of borers. When the fruit is opened, it is found that the interior is sufficiently damaged that the eggplant can no longer be sold.

It takes regarding 25 days for the fruit of an eggplant to mature, and throughout this time it is under constant pressure from these persistent insects. Crop protection products can help, but they are expensive and never fully effective. A borer infestation can cause yields to drop by up to 80%.

With the arrival of Bt eggplant in the Philippines, we have an equalizer. We will be able to limit the damage caused by the drillers to an acceptable minimum.

GMOs like Bt eggplant won’t erase all of our problems as we deal with high fertilizer costs, changeable weather and other types of pests, but the virtual elimination of the biggest threat to our crops will make growing eggplants more rewarding than ever.

The University of the Philippines is responsible for producing the seeds. The only question for us is how quickly we can get them. The demand is high and the queue is long, but I hope that before the end of the year I will have access to this effective variety.

And most important to our mission and the farmers we serve, is that we will be able to lead by example, leveraging technology to support a profitable agricultural industry on the island as a tool to reduce poverty.

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* Operates in a group of small islands called Camotes Islands in Cebu, Philippines. The farm is 8 hectares and he rents 25-35 hectares for corn production. The mission of the farm is linked to community development and the idea of ​​using agriculture as a tool to help other farmers improve their techniques in order to lift them out of poverty.

Source : Agriculture Technology Tools Can Help Alleviate Poverty for Many – Global Farmer Network