27th Asian-Pacific Weed Science Society
KUCHING: There is a need to explore and develop novel tools or techniques for effective and efficient management of weeds.
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas said the reason is some species of weed are alternative hosts for crop pests and pathogens, thus reducing agricultural productivity in terms of quantity and quality.
Globally, he said, crop yield loss due to weed infestation was estimated at 9 percent while in developing countries weed control may claim up to 50 percent of the farmers’ time.
In terms of monetary value, annual economic loss for the United States of America was $27 billion and 3.2 billion for United Kingdom.
“In Malaysia, the rice industry is facing serious challenge to manage weedy rice since it was detected in 1988,” he said.
Weedy rice, also known as red rice, is a variety of rice (Oryza) that produces far fewer grains per plant than cultivated rice and is therefore considered a pest.
“Just 5 percent weedy rice infestation caused losses amounting to more than 20 million dollars,” said Uggah during the launch of the 27th Asian-Pacific Weed Science Society Conference 2019 at Riverside Majestic Hotel yesterday.
On food production, he said efforts to increase it to support the ever-increasing global population are crucial as the world population is expected to reach 8.6 billion in 2030 and 9.8 billion in 2050. And food production needs to increase to about 50 percent by 2050.
However, efforts to increase food production through sustainable crop production is threatened by climate change, environmental degradation, water crisis, greenhouse gas emissions, diseases and pest infestation including weeds, he said.
Uggah, who is also Infrastructure Development and Transportation Minister, said globalisation of trade and weak quarantine legislations on weed control in most developing countries have caused the spread of invasive alien species which are detrimental to native plants.
“Certain species such as Parthenium hysterophorus or Mexican weed is harmful to livestock and humans. It causes allergic respiratory problems, contact dermatitis and mutagenicity in livestock and humans,” he said, adding that the concern is the aggressive dominance of this weed could threaten local biodiversity.
“Current trends suggest that weed problems will worsen in the next 10 to 20 years due to global environmental change.
“Therefore, this calls for future weed management efforts to be more innovative and holistic for sustainable intensification of crop production and environmental conservation,” he stressed.
Noting that agricultural industry players have employed various weed control measures, and despite all the advancement in weed science and technology, Uggah said weeds are a persistent problem in the 21st century.
“Chemical control is the most popular weed control measure since the discovery of herbicides in the early 1950s. As a consequence, weeds have evolved herbicide resistance and has become a problem for farmers as it had led to long-term loss of herbicides as an option to control weeds,” he said.
He was glad that as the world is entering Industry 4.0 there is precision weed management through the use of remote sensing, drones and Internet of Things (IoT).
“These digital technologies could revolutionise weed management leading to the year 2050,” he said.
Among them, he said, the agricultural sector can use hyper spectral imaging methods for weed detection; system approach technique used to commercially develop smart machine for automated weed control, and in the field of biotechnology, techniques such as RNA interference is being applied to enhance weeds’ susceptibility to herbicides.
“Consequently, there is a need for trans-disciplinary research collaborations among stakeholders to explore alternatives and cheaper innovation for weed control that can be readily adopted by farmers,” he said.
Among the notables at the conference were Corteva Agriscience Integrated Field Sciences Leader for Asean, Iskandar Zulkarnain; Associate Professor Dr Firdaus Abdullah (Deputy Rector Academic and International Affairs UiTM Sarawak), Business Event Sarawak chief operating officer Amelia Roziman, president of Asian-Pacific Weed Science Society and Malaysia Plant Protection Society and chairman of the organising committee Professor Abdul Shukor Juraimi, planery speaker Dr A N Rao of International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, India, and International organising committee member Chanya Maneechote of the Department of Agriculture Thailand.
