Monsanto turns to climate-smart technology for food security

Agriculture biotechnology firm Monsanto Philippines is exploring climate-smart farming techniques to boost food production and conserve natural resources amid an ongoing El Niño phenomenon.

Monsanto underscored the need to adapt to a changing climate and equip farmers with the right tools and practices including biotechnology, data science, cover crops and reduced ploughing.

“By equipping our local farmers with sustainable tools and farming practices, we ensure that we have a continued supply of bountiful, high-quality food for today and for the future generations to come,” Monsanto Philippines country leader Sandro Rissi said.

Monsanto continues to bank on biotechnology through research and development, saying crops are now more resistant against diseases and insects, lessening the use of pesticides, and making natural resources last longer.

“Our food staples are also able to better withstand harsh weather conditions, such as severe drought and extreme cyclones,” Rissi noted.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration earlier reported that El Niño phenomenon would reach its peak in the first quarter with effects to be felt by 85 percent of the Philippines until the latter part of April.

“Local farmers face serious challenges in producing our food, as they can no longer predict the shift in wet and dry seasons. Harvests of the country’s most important food staples are predicted to decline significantly,” Rissi said.

Monsanto likewise acknowledged the importance of big data to the agriculture sector as all interactions happening on the field are measured and monitored in real time and in more precise ways.

“The field-level insights are in turn given to local growers, which allow them to make informed decisions so they can produce more on each hectare of their land,” he said.

The Philippines remains “extremely vulnerable” to climate change based on the 2016 Climate Change Vulnerability Index. The droughts caused by the El Niño phenomenon have sparked a sharp deterioration in food security and drop in agricultural production.

According to the International Food Policy Research Institute, expected decline in yield for major crops will go down to 0.9 to 2.2 percent for rice and 0.1 to 12.6 percent for corn.

The economy-wide cost of climate change to the country is estimated at P71 billion annually from 2015 to 2050 and approximately 1.4 million will be at risk of hunger by 2030 due to decline in yield.

Major food producing regions including Isabela, the rice bowl of the north, and Cotabato, the fruit basket of the south, will be affected.

Rissi added that adopting reduced tillage practices was another way to help keep carbon stored in the soil that allows minimal to no disturbance of the soil at all.

Cover crops, on the other hand, protect the soil and keep carbon from being released into the atmosphere.