FARM TOURS GOING DIGITAL
A simultaneous nationwide virtual tour of rice and corn fields was introduced recently by Bayer Crop Science (BCS) to current and emerging farm entrepreneurs as part of the digitalization trend in agriculture, which was long advocated by agriculture stakeholders and now accelerated by the COVID-19 crisis.
Featured in the Facebook page of BCS and called Online Kapehan, the field tour brought farmers via their smartphones and computers on a journey to different locations across the country—from Isabela all the way to Zamboanga del Sur. The sites included Alicia and Angadanan, Isabela; Talavera, Nueva Ecija; Naujan, Oriental Mindoro; Trento, Agusan del Sur, and Tambulig, Zamboanga del Sur.
On its first wide-reaching virtual field event, Bayer featured its newly developed preemergent herbicide Council Complete, a revolutionary herbicide that had shown in trials to be highly effective in weed control while being safe to rice.
The digitalization of agriculture is seen by experts as the key to scaling production and meeting rising demand.
The Food and Agriculture Organization estimates food production should increase by 70 percent to ensure food security particularly for the growing Asian population. This propels the need for novel crop protection and rice production techniques.
Farmer-cooperators in the field trials affirmed the efficacy of the new herbicide in controlling highly pestering weeds, consequently averting loss for farmers and ensuring good harvest. Emman Serame in Nueva Ecija said Council Complete enabled growth of rice plants without having to compete in nutrients with weeds and made the rice fields “clean.”
Council Complete, registered with the Fertilizer and Pesticides Authority, is recommended to be used on lowland rice plants two to four days after transplanting or at zero to one leaf stage of the plant. It should be used with the fields irrigated with water at 3- to 5-centimeter level to best control weeds.