Dr. Andrew Hewitt, an independent expert on aerial spraying and drift brought in by the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority (FPA) to help formulate the guidelines and protocols for a study on the issue, says the method employed in banana plantations follow “good science and good practices.”

He gave this comment during the “Technical Forum on the Science Behind Aerial Spraying” conducted by University of the Philippines-Mindanao (UPMin) as part of its 15th Anniversary Symposium Series last Wednesday, January 27, at the UP campus in Mintal, Davao City.

Hewitt said he observed aerial spraying in Guihing, Davao del Sur and was impressed with the accuracy, precision of the method employed.

“I see no unique or peculiar difference between the actual aerial spraying methods I have observed here in Davao compared to the hundreds of experiments we have conducted in Lincoln Ventures,” he said.

“In which case, the modeling programs AGDISP and AGDRIFT can help predict any drift you may want to look at with great accuracy,” Hewitt added.

AGDISP and AGDRIFT are modeling programs that may be fed with a variety of variables, from wind conditions to height of plane runs and globule size and content of solutions, to predict the behavior of any off-target drift that may happen.

Hewitt is in town to help the FPA formulate protocols and guidelines for its own study on how aerial spraying and its drift may affect off-target communities and the environment.

“Based solely on what I have seen in the Philippines so far, the height above the canopy of the spraying run, its precise targeting and so on, I would think that any drift not caught by the canopy can only move around two meters away from the target area,” Hewitt said.