LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – A researcher from Washington, USA conducted a study in the province to increase strawberry harvest with low pesticide use.
Dr. Beverly Gerdeman, a researcher from the Washington State University Plant & Pest Diagnostic eNetwork (PPDEN) spent five years in the municipality on a study aiming to develop an understanding of the pest complex in local strawberry fields with an emphasis on spider mites.
“We have reduced pesticide use in the strawberry fields, we have done a good program, “she said.
Gerdeman said the local government support for the project was key to its success coupled with the openness of local growers to try the new technology. “The farmers have a progressive way of thinking here,” she said.
The study revolved on the continued intensive sampling of mites from all strawberry producing barangays in La Trinidad Municipality.
The purpose of this activity is to develop a reference of both pest and beneficial mite species found on strawberry, Gerdeman said.
“The effects will reduce diseases in the strawberries,” she added.
The American researcher said farmers here have 60 percent healthier produce since the technology was used.
Gerdeman’s study reveals that an interagency project on the provincial level is now underway. Farmers in the “swamp” will have the opportunity to plant strawberries in land protected from pesticide drift and have access to clean water for irrigation.
In the current system, farmers are trapped in a land-lease system, whose short-term leases fail to encourage soil amendments and whose close proximity to other farmers promotes overuse of pesticides.
“We are not going to stop. The program will continue and I will find a way back here,” she said. (Maria Elena Catajan)