Countering crop viruses with technology

Rosita Garcia Capin was only 19 years old when she started growing rice in her family’s field in Pacalag, a village in San Miguel in Bulacan, the Philippines.

Despite her wealth of knowledge and experience in the field, she was perplexed when she could not diagnose the infectious virus that was spreading among her crops.

“I suspected that the virus was caused by the weather and climate change, but I couldn’t be sure what kind of virus it was, or what pesticides to use as well,” explained Rosita.

She found herself having to constantly rely on her fellow neighbours and retailers for advice. But no matter what their recommendations were, it failed to work on her farm.

For Rosita, whose profits suffered due to the mysterious plant virus, the pressure to protect her crops remain at an all-time high.  This is why Syngenta has decided to step in. As a global leader in agtech solutions, Syngenta constantly invests in new digital solutions and platforms so farmers can easily access agronomy advice and crop protection products at their fingertips. With these solutions, farmers can improve their productivity, and together with Syngenta, contribute to a more food secure future for all of us.

“Digital innovation has such a great capacity to transform the lives of farmers. As smartphone penetration rapidly increases, especially in rural areas, digital solutions have the potential to reach even more farmers and improve the way they farm and feed us,” said Chris Chen, Head of Digital Transformation, Syngenta Asia Pacific.

Additionally, we are also investing in research and development capabilities to bring new products into the market, so farmers can connect directly to the market and increase their profits and contribute to food security, while improving productivity and sustainability.

Rosita has benefitted tremendously from the app. Its pest map feature helped her to not only identify the virus, but also increased her knowledge and understanding of pests and disease information. For example, the common pests to watch out for including rice bugs and brown plant hoppers. More importantly, she could easily receive advice from the technical experts on crop agronomy, and products suited to eliminate certain viruses and diseases.

Since its launch in the Philippines in 2019, Tiwala has benefitted many farmers across the country.  But it is just one in Syngenta’s portfolio of digital solutions for growers.
In India, the Anantham app is helping farmers seek agronomy advice, find their nearest retailer and access pricing information on Syngenta’s products. To date, there are nearly 300,000 Anantham users in India. While in Thailand, where the Fall Armyworm is a threat, Syngenta’s Grower Console connects farmers to timely and accurate solutions to manage pests and diseases.

But beyond mobile apps, more needs to be done to ensure that other digital tools such as big data and the Internet of Things are also easily accessible to smallholder farmers like Rosita, to ensure that they reap the benefits that new technologies bring to agriculture.