CropLife SA is a South African industry association representing responsible manufacturers and distributors of sustainable crop protection, public health, and plant biotechnology solutions.
Ellias Mosomane, a farmer from Cloe in Limpopo, and CropLife SA representative Lesley Mabasa share Mosomane’s experience with the planting of biotech maize seeds at a demonstration trial.
Before meeting the CropLife SA team, Mosomane had no idea what plant biotechnology seed was. However, he had an eye-opening moment when the CropLife SA team approached him.
“I did not know anything about it until I met Lesley to explain everything to me,” he says.
Meanwhile, Mabasa recalls meeting Mosomane as he was just entering the farming industry and says this was the perfect opportunity for a farmer to start off correctly.
“I met Mr Mosomane in October 2022. He stated that he was fairly new to full-time farming since he just retired a few years back from the job he had for so many years. He indicated that he had three seasons of good maize yield.
“Mosomane didn’t know much about maize production, nor Bt maize or herbicide-tolerant. However, he was keen to learn about the maize and technology in general, as well as ways of dealing with the stalk borer and fall armyworm challenges,” Mabasa explains.
Experience during demonstration trials
Mosomane says he could see through the experiments that the maize was growing successfully and what was a bonus to him, is the fact that the maize was not eaten by the worms.
“My experience of the two seeds – Bt and non-Bt – to tell the truth, I was seeing something I wasn’t used to seeing,” Mosomane says.
Mabasa adds, “After establishing the trial, all was going well. Our farmer was learning daily and he was reporting any observations that he was coming across. He was a good student that followed the instructions. He kept records, he adhered to the weeding programme wearing personal protective gear, and most importantly, he was able to see the difference between the trial and his own planting.
“The demonstration trial was running well with beautiful maize until it suffered a long heatwave and, as a result, the maize didn’t survive such conditions, and that’s how the trial failed.”
According to Mosomane, he had a blast understanding the difference between Bt and non-Bt seeds during the learning process. He identified the difference through the trial by seeing where the maize meal was growing successfully without any pests and disease hindrances.
“I found the best to be the Bt seed, which was not eaten by all those insects. It also taught me to rest,” says Mosomane.
CropLife SA aims to help farmers
Mabasa explains that the technology is available to farmers who are struggling with various pests and diseases.
“Mr Mosomane was targeted as one of the people who were eager to plant maize but experienced obstacles when it came to pests,” he says.
The aim of the trial was to expose Mosomane to the technology and it remains his decision whether he wants to continue using it.
This specific trial was done on dry land so there was no irrigation. “That was the challenge we faced in [Mosomane’s] trial, but other than that in terms of the technology transferred, he has learnt a lot,” Mabasa says.
Engaging the community
According to Mosomane, as a farmer, he is in a much better space managing his farm and finding the balance to rest, be with his family and be a great farmer.
It is important that one story makes a difference, and he can share his experience with his community.
On the other hand, Mosomane expresses that adopting seed technology is best for successful production.
“I already started to speak to some of the staff members in Giyani. As farmers, we must sit down and I will push by all means to [help],” he explains.
Mabasa says farmers ought to explore a multifaceted approach to crop production. There’s a constant challenge of new pests and climate change. Conventional farming methods are not enough to address the challenges that farmers face, hence he urges farmers to learn about new innovative technologies that can help them farm better and more profitably.
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