Prime Movers sector report: Agricultural Science

Sixty-year-old Mexican farmer Don Vicente Avila Torres has a vision that one day his seven children living in the United States will be able to return to a land whose fields are more prosperous - and an ambitious three-year, $479,926 New Zealand research project may help him secure his dream.

The project aims to find a biological, non-chemical solution to the "gallina ciega" or "blind chicken" grub, the voracious larvae of the Scarabaeidae beetle that feeds on maize roots, destroying between a third of a season's harvest. The 2.5cm, crescent-shaped, white larvae with brown heads earn their name from their tiny eyes.

The project is centred on the small farming community of Cantabria, about 80km from Morelia, the capital of the central western state of Michoacan. It is run by scientists from the Lincoln, Christchurch, campus of our biggest Crown Research Institute, AgResearch, in conjunction with Mexican counterparts, and is funded by New Zealand's Latin America Development Assistance Facility, set up in 1990.

Avila Torres, a man who chooses his words carefully, with dry, rustic humour, is the elected leader of the farmers who form the Cantabria ejido, a co-operative community. The ejido is made up of 307 ejiditarios who each work their own plots.

"The problem here is big, but this project is big," he says. "We still need more help from the authorities. There is such a lot we don't have."

It is clear the farmers are glad the scientists are there, making a start on tackling this enormous problem and introducing them to what can be done.

AgResearch's Dr Trevor Jackson, accompanied on his most recent trip to Mexico by another scientist from the institute, Dr Travis Glare, is clearly the right man for the job. The 54-year-old agricultural scientist with a PhD in entomology from Lincoln has travelled extensively in Latin America and speaks good Spanish. A big, genial man, he has an excellent rapport with his Mexican counterparts, who have an obvious respect for his experience, which includes being part of the team that developed a bacterium disease to counter the grass grub scourge in New Zealand.

"It was clear the same work principles could be applied in other areas or countries," Jackson said, "so I leaped at the opportunity to support the local programme in Michoacan."

He anticipated having to overcome some scepticism about new methods so it was important the Cantabria community participated fully.

"The key is that we are supporting their programme. I think it is feasible, and we hope to bring new ideas. We New Zealanders bring a slightly different approach to things."

Glare, a 42-year-old Australian who has worked for AgResearch since 1992, is an insect pathologist and molecular biologist who, in his own words, "deals with the DNA side of things".

He brings to the project his experience working in Guatemala studying the production of fungi to control pests on sugar plantations.

The goal of the project is to improve the economic well-being and sustainability of Mexican rural communities by eradicating the destructive grub using disease-causing insect pathogens as biopesticides. This will increase yields and at the same time decrease environmental contamination and associated health problems during maize cultivation. If the methods used are successful, they could be used in other parts of Mexico and Latin America.

In Mexico, maize is the most important crop, covering 6.5 million hectares, or 58 per cent of annual crop cultivations, and represents 18 per cent of the value of total agricultural production.

However, the majority of producers are farmers like Avila Torres, with plots of land less than 5ha, often in the poorer dry mountain regions. Their maize is for home consumption and as a cash crop, and they usually achieve no more than 25 per cent of the potential yield. Growth of new, high-yielding varieties and other crops is often prevented by the "blind chicken" grub.

Michoacan is one of Mexico's poorest states and in the Cantabria area about 90 per cent of the cultivated land is dedicated solely to maize. More than half the community are campesinos with smallholdings and low yields. As a consequence, 37 per cent of the region's young people have migrated to northern Mexico or to America.

Long-term this project could turn emigration around - with greater family incomes, employment if a small biopesticide factory could be established, and better health.

A successful biopesticide could see maize yields increased from 2 tonnes per hectare to a potential 8 tonnes.

Avila Torres, distinctive in his white sombrero, recounts the destruction the grub has caused.

"It is the worse pest we have," he explains. "We have used insecticides, but after three years the problem returns, sometimes resistant to the insecticides. The insecticides are also very dear, so we welcome new methods."

Jackson's plan is to get villagers and campesinos to help the scientists gather naturally-occurring insect pathogens - disease-causing microbes - which would attack and destroy the "blind chicken" grub. After identifying useful virus fungi or bacteria, ways would be sought to mass produce and apply the pathogens safely and economically.

AgResearch has a good track record in this field. It implemented biological control programmes for grass grub in New Zealand and the taro beetle in the Pacific, and a virus control scheme for the rhinoceros beetle in Southeast Asia.

The project has the full support of biologist Miguel Najera Rincon from Cenapros, Mexico's National Research Centre for Sustainable Production.

Najera Rincon, 45, is as enthusiastic about the project as Jackson. He has been working for Cenapros for 10 years in Morelia, and began collecting pathogens three years ago. There is now a bank of about 70 different pathogen fungi.

In another dimension to the project, Dr Martha Perales Rivas, a 45-year-old agricultural researcher at Mexico's Chapingo University, is supervising university students doing a survey to identify potential socio-economic and cultural constraints to adoption of the new biocontrol technology. The role of women in current production systems and in the adoption of the new technology will be examined, as well as its impact on women and families.

"Maize is part of our culture," Perales Rivas says. "It is important to promote the equality of the sexes in access to opportunities provided by productive resources."

It is hoped that the project will lead to greater family incomes, a safer environment for women and children in planting and cropping operations, and opportunities for employment for women, especially in the production and distribution of biopesticides.

Facts:

Nine Crown Research Institutes

2002 revenue: $512.3 million

Staff: 4092

AgResearch

2002 revenue: $132.2 million

Staff: 948