Good agricultural practice a safer alternative for controlling weeds

MANILA, Philippines - With the onset of the rainy season, farmers face the problem of weed infestation. Some farmers still do the traditional hand weeding and tilling methods. But aside from being labor intensive, such methods damage the fragile structure of the soil. Many have been using herbicides to control the weeds. But today’s farmers know better.

Good agricultural practice (GAP) dictates that the choice of herbicides should consider not only its impact on the productivity but also how it affects the soil, the plants, the environment and the farmers’ health and safety. Farmers’ health and safety should not be compromised with productivity and profit. Products classified as high risk should be closely monitored or even strictly restricted for use.

“We prefer an herbicide that does not cause danger to our crops and of course to our health,” said Victor Awal, a farmer from Abatan, Buguias, Benguet. 

Awal expressed concern over the ill effects of the systemic herbicides that have been widely used in the past to control weeds. “Soil erosion in Benguet and Mountain Province is very serious. To counter this, we plant cut-flowers or deep rooted plants in sloping areas to prevent the soil from eroding. We do not use systemic herbicides that kill the roots since this is one of major causes of soil erosion.”

Systemic herbicides destroy a great amount of the plant tissues including the roots loosening and eroding the soil and dissipating its nutrients.

In Bukidnon, farmers observed how long term application of systemic herbicide has affected the structure and fertility of the soil. “Soil erosion is one of our problems during heavy rains especially in sloping areas that are consistently treated with glyphosate herbicides,” said Jessie Sangutan of Payad, Pangantucan, Bukidnon.

Conscious about the situation, farmers are to “either weed manually or use herbicides that only kill the leaves,” said Awal.

As part of its farmer’s education program, Bayer CropScience has been going around the country to educate farmers on good agricultural practices and better alternatives to weed management.

Bayer CropScience is actively promoting the use of contact herbicide to control weeds. Contact herbicide is limited to destroying the parts of the weeds where spray comes into contact and does not translocate. “Contact herbicide like Basta SL15 is one of the safest to use from the aspect of crop safety. Importantly, farmers and applicators are safe from using it,” said Dionisio Banaay III, Bayer CropScience business development manager.

Banaay said Basta SL15 is a unique broad spectrum, non-selective herbicide that provides excellent crop safety with a relatively low hazard to the operator. Basta can be used as a pre-plant and/or post-plant application in more than 130 crops, including perennial (fruits, nuts, vines, industrial plantations) crops and their nurseries, leafy and fruity vegetables, row crops and arable lands. Basta can also be used as a pre-harvest desiccant and applied in non-crop areas, he added.

“With our farmer’s education program, we are not only teaching farmers on smart alternatives to achieve productivity but we also would like to emphasize the importance of using products that will be safe for them and for the environment,” said Banaay.