Lack of registered agrochemicals to control Coffee Berry Borer affects 2016/2017 crop

Coffee plantations of important producing regions in Southeastern Brazil have shown significant incidence of the Coffee Berry Borer and the situation demands attention, according to an alert from representatives of the Regional Cooperative of Coffee Growers of Guaxupé (state of Minas Gerais) and the Cooperative of Coffee Growers of the Cerrado. The plague has a short cycle and great capacity of proliferation, hurt the quality and grain yields. What worries the producers is the lack of efficient agrochemicals approved by Brazilian authorities.

“During the visits in properties in the south of Minas Gerais and the Cerrado region, we have realized a significant incidence of the Borer at the plantations and this worries because it is complicated to negotiate coffee in the market,” says the commercial director of the Guaxupé cooperative, Lúcio Dias. The cooperative estimates exports of 4.6 million bags in this crop, an increase of 12.5% comparing to the last season. On the other hand, there is no precise data yet on the insect’s impact on crops of associates of the cooperative.

The Coffee Berry Borer is considered one of the main plagues on coffee plantations in Brazil and attacks the dry green fruit, normally, between November and April. The insect hurts the coffee quality – hurting the competitiveness of the grain, mostly, at external markets – and reduces productivity. One bag of 60 kilograms infested with the plague can generate a loss of 850 grams.

The absence of registered agrochemicals brings more difficulties to combat the plague. Currently, the most used products have active ingredients of Cyantraniliprole or Clorantraniliprole. The Endosulfan, long recognized as the only efficient agrochemical to control the Coffee Berry Borer was banned in 2013 by the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) for leaving residual at the grain.

At the 2015/16 crop, the Expocaccer, the top farm show in the Cerrado of Minas Gerais, had nearly 9% of the lost affected by the Berry Borer, an increase of 2% compared to the previous season. In 2015, the losses with the plague reached R$ 7 million, which strengthens the effects of the insect on the economy. According to the trader Joel Borges, most of the lost affected by the Berry Borer are at the small farms that do not rely on technical assistance. 

“At the crop that we are going to harvest now in 2016, we have registered a big infestation of Berry Borer. The percentage of lost with the plague is equal to or higher than that recorded last year. Therefore, it is very important to do an effort to offer new products to combat the Borer in the market. The current ones are very expensive and not very efficient,” explains Borges.

The superintendent of development at the cooperative of Guaxupe, Eduardo Júnior, alerts that producers should do the combat of the Coffee Berry Borer with technical support. “The coffee grower should not do it by himself, it is always recommended a help of an agronomist of a cooperative or a rural institution,” he says.

The monitoring of the Coffee Berry Borer should be done per plot and the management too, normally at the lower part, where the infestation is bigger, reducing the application of the agrochemical.