Agriculture and food security post covid-19 outbreak: a time

for change
Dr. Febri Doni
Malaysian Agroecology Society
University of Malaya

www.ukm.my
Impact of Covid-19 on global economy

• Since its start in China in December, the outbreak has

spread to more than 100 countries, endangering both lives
and livelihoods of millions.
• COVID-19 could result in a global loss of $2.4 trillion to
over $9 trillion in gross domestic product this year alone
(Brookings Institution)
• GDP decline in Agriculture, Fisheries, Forestry: Cambodia:
20%; Lao PDR: 15%; Indonesia: 13% (Overall 1.4% drop in
GDP in SEA = $ 3.76 billion)
• Currently there are more than 1 billion people that are
starving. There will be an estimated 265 million more
people could go hungry in the end of 2020.
 Impact of Covid-19 on agricultural sector

• Agriculture sector is particularly important in Africa and Asia, where its

employment share is 49% and 30.5%, respectively.
• Major source of employment for women, who account for 41.9% of the
agricultural workforce in the developing world.
• Decline in Agriculture Labor Supply: Vietnam 3.82%; Cambodia: 3.63%;
Indonesia: 3.28%.
• Disruptions of sowing, planting, harvesting, marketing.
Global food production beyond Covid-19

STAGNANT INCREASED
 Global food production beyond Covid-19

Environmental
Pest and diseases
factors

Excessive use of
Lost of soil fertility
agrochemicals
 Global food security beyond Covid-19

Broadcasting pre-germinated seed 3 and more seedlings per hill, no spacing

So how we are going to feed the world after Covid-19 outbreak?

According to UNDESA, there will be 10 billion people on

earth by 2050. How can we feed a growing planet?

Continuous flooding Herbicide use

 1 – Agroecology? YES
The application of ecological principles to agricultural systems
(cover the entire chain of activities from the farm to the whole supply chain)
 Benefits of agroecology

• Increase ecological resilience, especially with respect to volatile weather conditions;

• Improve health and nutrition through more diverse, nutritious and fresh diets and reduced
incidence of pesticide poisonings and pesticide-related diseases;
• Conserve biodiversity and natural resources such as soil organic matter, water, crop genetic
diversity and natural enemies of pests;
• Improve economic stability with more diverse sources of income, spread of labor needs and
production over time, and reduced vulnerability to commodity price swings; and
• Mitigate effects of climate change through reduced reliance on fossil fuels and fossil fuel-
based agricultural inputs, increased carbon sequestration and the right water residence in
soil.
 Example of agroecological practises

• Conservation Agriculture
• System of Rice Intensification (SRI)
• Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
• Organic Farming
• Integrating Farming
• Biofertilizer and biopesticide
 Agroecology: applying microorganisms

One of the ways to increase food production and soil

health is by applying beneficial microorganisms!

Healthy soil
 Trichoderma: a beneficial microbe
Trichoderma asperellum
SL2
Recently, we have screened and isolated a local isolate
Trichoderma asperellum SL2 that has demonstrated positive
plant growth-promotion potentials to enhance rice plants’
growth.
Elucidating the effects of SL2 to rice plants

Effects of Trichoderma SL2 on (i) growth and yield,

(ii) physiological traits, (iii) NPK uptake, and (iv)
gene expression.

T. asperellum SL2

Without T. asperellum SL2

 Growth performances

T C
C T
 Physiological characteristics

T C
Physiological characteristics

T C
Physiological characteristics
 Trichoderma improve rice plants’ gene expression
Gene expression pattern
20
Response to light
2
2
Systemic acquired resistance
1
20
Response to radiation
0
2
Up- and down-regulated functional genes related Stomatal complex development
0
to biological processes in rice seedlings Leaf development
4
0
inoculated with T. asperellum SL2 (T) vs. Root morphogenesis
4
1
uninoculated seedlings (C) based on gene 4
Carbon fixation
ontology (GO) annotation. 0

GO Term
10
Chlorophyll biosynthetic process
9
34 Up
Response to abiotic stimulus
5 Down
2
Auxin transport
1
2
Response to symbiont
0
17
Root development
2
16
Defense response
7
9
ROS metabolic process
0
155
Photosynthesis
6

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180

Source: Doni et al. (2019a)
Number of genes
 Trichoderma improve rice plants’ gene expression
Gene expression pattern
2
Chlorophyll binding
0
5
UDP-glucosyltransferase activity
0
Up- and down-regulated functional genes related 11
RNA binding
to molecular function in rice seedlings inoculated 0
39
with T. asperellum SL2 (T) vs. uninoculated Ion binding
19
seedlings (C) based on gene ontology (GO) Organic cyclic compound binding
35
17
annotation. 13
Nucleotide binding
8

GO Term
7
Electron carrier activity
1
2 Up
Carbohydrate transporter activity Down
1
84
Catalytic activity
23
3
mRNA binding
0
11
Transferase activity
0
12
Structural molecule activity
2
10
Lyase activity
0

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Number of genes
Source: Doni et al. (2019a)
 Trichoderma improve rice plants’ gene expression
Gene expression pattern Ribosome
16
1
76
Cytoplasmic part
12
1
Up- and down-regulated functional genes related Catalytic complex
0
to cellular components in rice seedlings 1
Light-harvesting complex
0
inoculated with T. asperellum SL2 (T) vs.
1
uninoculated seedlings (C) based on gene Mitochondrion
0
ontology (GO) annotation. Cell wall
18
1

GO Term
82
Membrane
17
Up
67
Plastid Down
5
1
Water transmembrane transporter
0
18
photosystem
2
192
Chloroplast
10
84
Cytoplasm
17
238
Thylakoid
4

0 50 100 150 200 250

Number of genes

Source: Doni et al. (2019a)

Trichoderma improve rice plants’ gene expression
Trichoderma’s role in controlling sheath blight
Dual culture in vitro test

M ycelium grow th (cm )

Trichoderma vs Rhizoctonia solani

7  
6

T. asperellum SL2 R. solani

Different letters indicate a significant difference at p <0.05 (LSD Test)

 
Trichoderma’s role in controlling sheath blight

T C
 Trichoderma effect on rice plant

Source: Doni et al. (2019b)

 Formulation of Trichoderma for farmer application

T. asperellum SL2 formulated with corn as carrier significantly increased rice seedling growth, thus making corn as a
potential carrier to be employed as T. asperellum SL2 inoculants for field application.
Formulation of Trichoderma for farmer application

TBF was reasonably stable at temperature 30° C thereafter up to 120 days

 Formulation of Trichoderma for farmer application
Effects of TBF on rice growth

Rice plants inoculated

with TBF show higher
tillering and better
canopy growth
compared to
uninoculated plants.
Both pictures were
taken at 30 days after
TBF Control sowing
Formulation of Trichoderma for farmer application

Effects of TBF on physiological traits

 Formulation of Trichoderma for farmer application
Effects of TBF on yield
Formulation of Trichoderma for farmer application
 Formulation of Trichoderma for farmer application

Simple, farmer-friendly methods for TBF production

Formulation of Trichoderma for farmer application

a) Participants from North Korea (b) Participant from Thailand

c) Participants from Jembal, Kelantan d) Participants from Tumpat, Kelantan

 Conclusions

1. Isolation of more compatible strains that can be formulated in more cost-effective way
for commercialization.
2. Better understanding with regards to the role of rice-microbe interactions at ecological
level- link microbiomes composition with functions.
3. Understanding of the microbial rice plant association and their involved mechanisms
using omics-based approaches, such as proteomics, genomics, metagenomics and
metabolomics.
4. It is absolutely crucial to address the importance of supporting agroecological apporach.
But, firstly we need to analyze and look at the incentive already in place for
chemical/industrial agriculture, how we can dismantle them. Then, we need to ensure
the policies are supportive towards agroecological production such as small holder
farmers and organization that are supporting agroecology.
5. Globally, FAO has the capacity to provide the technical support for countries that
wanted to implement agroecology.
THANK YOU