Koppert Biological Systems, which specialises in integrated systems of knowledge and natural, safe solutions to improve crop health, resilience and production, has welcomed the upcoming Global Forum for Innovations in Agriculture (GFIA) as a 'catalyst for natural sustainable solutions at the highest level'.
According to Koppert's corporate marketing director, Peter Maes, the GFIA is a crucial international platform for introducing vital sustainable horticultural and agricultural technologies to the Southern Hemisphere, and convincing ministerial legislators of the urgent need for natural alternatives for this sector’s problems.
Koppert is attending the event to promote alternatives to chemical crop protection products and artificial fertilisers and showcase its sustainable solutions to influential legislators and other stakeholders.
This year’s GFIA theme: ‘promoting sustainability and agricultural resilience,’ aptly describes Koppert’s core business for almost 50 years. Exploring nature and using its principles to find groundbreaking innovations for natural pollination, pest management, and soil and seed enhancement, has led to know-how and solutions that have resulted in enormous production efficiency and quality improvements in many crops. It has also led to substantial reductions in the use of chemical crop protection products and artificial fertilisers.
'There are important food availability, food security and food safety issues to be addressed if we are going to be able to feed the projected 9bn population by 2050,' said Maes. 'We need to produce food with less input, but higher yields and quality. This means that we need to look at sustainable intensification and produce crops with a lower production risk and less pressure on the environment.
'And this is were Koppert comes in with biological solutions to create an environment around the plant which makes it less vulnerable to pests and diseases in a sustainable way with less dependence on chemical pesticides and fertilisers.'
