Biodiversity helps farms

The importance of biodiversity in helping farms improve not only their livelihoods but also their local environments and, in some cases, even their own health has been confirmed by new rice research.

Details of the findings will be disclosed during the annual general meeting of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (OGIAR), to be held in Manila on Oct. 28 to Nov. 1.

Different research projects conducted by scientists from the Los Baños-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), one of the so-called ‘Future Harvest Centers’ of the CGIAR in China and the Philippines have found that not only can biodiversity be used to control pests and disease, but it can also increase farmers’ incomes.

In both cases, the use of biodiversity involve the planting of different rice varieties other than the modern high-yielding rice varieties normally grown by the world’s 200 million rice farmers.

In China, an estimated 200,000 farmers are now planting two types of rice in their fields to control pests and diseases.