Philippines Urges Farmers To Cut Out Chemicals

Matt Hopkins Posted by Matt Hopkins|24 June 2008

Amidst soaring prices of chemicals and crop inputs, the Philippines Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) is pushing potato farmers to switch to alternative pest control. Over 7,000 farmers in one province work on 10,964 hectares of land dedicated to potatoes, producing an average of 97,834 metric tons annually. Jesus Aspuria, chief of BPI’s National Crop Research and Development Center in the Cordillera, said potato farmers’ most common problems – bacterial wilt and the cyst nematode – could be eliminated through crop rotation and the use of biological agents.

While production could decrease 50 to 70% if bacterial wilt and cyst nematode become severe, Aspuria believes farm chemicals are also eating deeply into farmers costs – and profits. He recommends crop rotation to prevent wilt from becoming prevalent, planting potatoes only once per year. Aspuria also believes trichoderma – a biological agent that BPI first gave farmers three years ago – could kill the cyst if mixed with the soil prior to planting.