Healthy plants’ role in averting hunger
Nearly two decades ago, the Philippines lost its access to the Taiwanese market for fresh coconuts due to the infestation of the cadang-cadang disease. The country exported fresh coconuts to Taiwan through a quota system until 1999. Shipments were halted after cadang-cadang hit a number of coconut-producing provinces in luzon and Visayas, including Sorsogon, Quezon, and Northern Samar.
Another pest that continues to threaten the Philippine farm sector, particularly bananas, is fusarium wilt. Fusarium wilt or Panama disease is considered as the single biggest threat to the local banana industry. It is one of the factors behind the inability of the Philippines to go head-to-head with other banana producers, such as Ecuador and Costa Rica, which are now eating into the market share of Philippine exporters in China and Japan.
Citing the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Economic Forum (WEF) noted that plant diseases—ranging from coffee leaf rust to banana fusarium wilt—will cost the global economy more than $220 billion. Losses from invasive species such as desert locusts and red palm weevils are estimated at $70 billion a year. FAO noted that plant pests and diseases cause food crop losses of up to 40 percent. The damage caused by these pests and diseases exacerbates a worsening world hunger and threatens rural livelihoods (See, “Pests, diseases destroy up to 40% of food
crops—fao, in the Businessmirror, March 30, 2022).
Changing weather patterns is also hastening the spread of pests and diseases. Pests like fall armyworm and Tephritid fruit flies have been spreading due to warmer climate, while desert locusts are expected to change their migratory routes and geographical distribution because of climate change. In 2020, WEF noted that massive desert locust swarms swept across Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya and destroyed thousands of hectares of crops and grazing land.
The threat posed by these diseases to the goal of eliminating hunger will be highlighted during the observance of the International Day of Plant Health on May 12. The occasion, which is held every May 12, was championed by Zambia and unanimously adopted by the UN General Assembly in a resolution co-signed by Bolivia, Finland, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Tanzania. FAO said the day is a key legacy of the International Year of Plant Health, which was marked in 2020-2021.
FAO hopes that the event would increase awareness on the importance of keeping plants healthy to achieve the UN 2030 agenda, particularly the world body’s Sustainable Development Goal 2 (Zero Hunger). The event also seeks to minimize the risk of spreading plant pests through trade and travel by triggering compliance with international plant health standards and strengthening the monitoring and early warning systems to protect plants and plant health.
The UN wants to stress the importance of sustainable pest and pesticide management to keep plants healthy while protecting the environment. Governments are also encouraged to invest in plant health innovations, research, capacity development and outreach. Innovation is especially crucial at this time as smallholders are now struggling to produce food amid erratic weather patterns and the impact of geopolitics on crucial inputs, such as fertilizer.