Nematodes cause billions losses per year in Brazil

The Brazilian Society of Nematology reveals that nematodes cause losses of R$ 35 billion to the Brazilian farm business each year. The losses on soybean production alone are estimated at R$ 16.2 billion, according to the Society.

Different than other plagues, Brazilian farmers face difficulties in diagnosing the presence of nematodes, as they are invisible to the naked eye and are located at the subsoil, being fed by nutrients on the root of the plants. The presence of the parasite cause deficient growth of the plant, provoking a discard or production as it happens with 30% to 40% of carrots, guava or black peppers, for instance.

In Brazil, nematodes are present in a wide geographic area. According to nematologist and researcher of the Agronomic Institute of Paraná, Andressa Machado, the traffic of agricultural machinery and implements as well as trucks loaded with soybeans, planters and harvesters can take these pathogens to be hosted in new rural areas or to accumulate on the sides of the roads.

"As a result of this scenario, 98% of the soils of Mato Grosso present evidence of nematodes in nearly all crops of the state, and the problem reached to a point that farmers of the region and from Tocantins had to abandon the lands which became unproductive due to the infestation,” says Machado.

The researcher suggests the use of resistant varieties to control these attacks because these solutions help to reduce some specific types of nematodes. Other way is to push producers to practice integrated plague management, a strategy of ecological control that passes through clinical treatment, crop rotation without hosting plants and reducing plague populations and the diverse varieties of the soybean crop. 

Finally, Andressa Machado defends a wide agronomic discussion which never existed in Brazil on the issue, to revert this reality of losses.