Rice is a staple crop for over half of the world's population and is grown in over 100 countries, but bacterial leaf blight (BLB) is causing crop losses and driving the use of potentially dangerous pesticides.
Ascribe Bioscience, a New York-based agricultural tech company, believes it can reduce the impacts of the disease with its new biopesticide: Phytalix.
Jay Farmer, the company's CEO and founder, told Forbes that he believes the product is "a transformative development for farmers big and small."
"Current chemical solutions used to manage these diseases are not meeting growers' needs," added Farmer. "They are harmful to the environment, expensive, and are losing their efficacy as pathogens develop resistance."
BLB primarily affects rice crops in both temperate and tropical zones, although it's been particularly devastating to crops in tropical regions of Asia, where losses of up to 74% have been piling up, as a study in the journal Heliyon, shared by Science Direct, observed.
India has been especially hard hit, with yield losses up to 80%, as the disease flourishes in its warm, humid climate. This threatens to disrupt the country's rice crop, which accounts for 27% of the world's supply, as Forbes explained.
Trials of Phytalix conducted in the country resulted in an 83% reduction in BLB severity while outperforming traditional treatments by 20%, according to the publication. Rice yields saw a 30% increase in tests where BLB was particularly heavy and an overall boost of 13% across all the areas it was applied.
The use of pesticides is estimated to have grown 20% over the last decade, according to the Institute for Functional Medicine, with some low-income countries seeing growth of up to 153%. Many of these are chemical pesticides that are associated with elevated cancer risks, among other dangers to human health.
This has led to substantial growth in the global market for natural, non-chemical pesticides, which was said to be worth $226.3 billion in 2021, according to Acumen research. Its projections say it could hit $631.4 billion by 2030.
Some farmers in parts of Asia have been using antibiotics on their crops in hopes of fighting the disease, but researchers are worried it may be fueling antibiotic resistance while using up the valuable medical resource.
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Not enough time ⏳ Phytalix, however, is "derived from natural molecules sourced from the soil microbiome" as Forbes explained, which makes it sustainable for rice farmers big and small.
Ascribe said that it actually helps to boost the plant's immune system and guards against major fungal pathogens, as well as bacterial and viral disease.
Natural methods of pest control such as this could provide a safer way to protect global rice production, which Forbes suggested is projected to increase by 11.12% by 2030.
Srinivas Veeranki, managing director of crop science service AgReveal, told the outlet that Phytalix could be "a major step forward for farmers and global food security, offering effective and long-lasting disease control while also making rice production more resilient to growing environmental and market challenges."
Ascribe's product is currently pending review in Brazil and the U.S., as Forbes explained, with future plans for approval in key rice-producing countries across Asia.
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