Lack of efficient agrochemicals against Coffee Berry Borer causes losses in Brazil

The lack of efficient agrochemicals against the Coffee Berry Borer already provoked millionaire losses for this crop in Brazil. In the region of the Cerrado Mineiro in Minas Gerais alone, the losses has already reached R$ 7 million in this season with 9% of the plots damaged – an increase of 2% compared to the previous cycle, according to a survey from Expocaccer Cooperative union. 

“At the plots of coffee sweeping, the percentage of Borer is higher. In the fields with harvesters, as we said here, the infestation is much lower. At the older ones, the infestation is slightly higher because the coffee beam which stays at the foot is the host for the plague development,” says Joel de Souza Borges, trader of Expocaccer.

The Coffee Berry Borer is one of the major plagues of coffee in Brazil, attacking the grain at the maturation period and hurting the quality and the yields. “If we look at yields of an average of 35 bags per hectare, the producer will lose an average of 25 to 27 kilos. That is, it leads to interests for the producer to calculate the cost/benefit to do the control of the agrochemical,” said Borges to the Cafeicultura Magazine.

Endolsulfan, which was the most efficient product to combat the plague, was banned by the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) in July of 2014 because it left toxic residue in the grain. However, producers face difficulties because the new agrochemicals in the market do not represent the same effectiveness and yet increase the cost per hectare in over 50 times.

“Today we are seeking alternatives, some have already been registered in the market in emergency. It was established on September 17 the ordinance of minister Kátia Abreu focusing the necessity to speed up the registration of products to several plagues, among them the Cotton Boll Weevil and the Coffee Berry Borer. So there is predisposition of the government to speed up the process,” says Eduardo Daher, executive-director of the National Association of Crop Protection.

For the Brazilian Association of Coffee Industries, the plague can reduce the competitiveness of the Brazilian product in the outside markets. “Some countries accept a certain limit of grains with the plague, but this limit today has been exceeded in several regions. Therefore, the exporter that needs to 'benefit again' its coffee assumes more costs and reduces the competitiveness,” says Nathan Herszkowicz, executive-director of the Brazilian Association of the Coffee Industry.