Brazil Ihara hails biopesticide industry

Sustainability has been one of the main current issues in the past three years. Companies have chosen to invest in the creation of biopesticides, less toxic and effective as a solution that shows satisfactory results in the current market. They have been seeking to develop crop protection products that could be used in planting areas with low environmental impact. 

Thus, some regions, such as Latin America, will have a growth of this segment. While there was a decrease in the sale of traditional pesticides, some crops have opened precedent for the biological products, such as fruits and vegetables in their pre-harvest sprays. Especially in Brazil, bio nematicides also grew. Despite of this market segment has registered a drop, these niche market shows a good prospects in the near future.

Brazil is leading this segment in Latin American countries. In the coming years, bio chemicals sales should record an increase of 15% to 20%, according to projections released by the Brazilian Association of Biological Control of Companies (ABCBio) at the end of last year. 

According to the agency, by this time about 51 companies have bio products registered in the country, offering about 118 solutions. 

In 2015 a high number of records for almost 20 were approved. It was 135% higher than the average in the last six years. 

The record process for this type of technology is faster than the same to approve conventional products. It is an advantage in this market segment. This is mostly fast due to the fact that authorities have offered specific teams to evaluate biopesticides with different requirements from traditional analyzes.

For some time now, Ihara began its operations in this market and had a significant role accompanying these changes due to its participation as traditional manufacturer of agrochemicals. The company went ahead of the market and since 2014 they allocated an exclusive area for bio products. Since then, the company has invested in several projects and technologies for registration. At the end of the second half year, one of them the Eco-Shot (Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain D747) would face the market for fruits and vegetables.

By now, the market of organic products represents about 10% of total revenues of Ihara. This situation encourages it to keep working in this sector looking for national or foreign partners, companies and universities for the development of new research and products.

For this business stage, it has gained the support of shareholders, and also invests in research in this area as well as large companies in the sector. The union with these great companies enables it to provide a complete portfolio of solutions for customers and farmers.

But why are biopesticides so essential? What does they make so different from products that can already be found on the market? There are some issues that can enhance these opportunities to growth. Among them, a greater focus on sustainable agriculture; an increased resistance of pests to chemical pesticides; a limited supply of new molecules and the significant technological advances found in the area of biological pesticides with the development of more efficient formulations and useful lifetime.

The segment was also favored by recent disease problems that have arisen in some crops in Brazil. Such as Helicoverpa armigera, which in 2014 and late 2015 did great damage, causing significant losses to farmers. The economic viability of pest control has been achieved due to the introduction of microbiological insecticides and parasitoid insects in the pest management plan. 

Ihara was part of this process with the GESMSTAR biopesticide, considered as one of the most effective in the control against Helicoverpa.

Surveys show that Brazil and Latin America still have a long way to go and there is a great growing space to develop biopesticides, making these tools extremely successful as a viable option for the continued growth of Brazilian agriculture to be offered to consumers as products even healthier and nutritious.