AgroPages-Kimberlit enters biopesticide market under the Bionat brand-Agricultural news

By Leonardo Gottems, reporter for AgroPages

The Brazilian specialty fertilizer company, Kimberlit Agrociências, entered the biopesticides market by launching the Bionat brand. A new factory was inaugurated in the city of Olímpia, in the interior of the state of São Paulo, which is still in the testing phase. Kimberlit is expected to start producing bio-products at scale from June this year.

For the month of August 2019, the company expects to receive the registrations from the Ministry of Agriculture for the commercialization of two fungi that act as biological insecticides. One of them is the Metarhizium anisopliae, a fungus that is a proven effective biological controller of several species of spittlebugs (Dalbulus maidis). According to Kimberlit, the product is produced in rice, under "excellent conditions of asepsis, rigorous quality control in order to guarantee the absence of contaminants, efficiency in the germination and virulence of the conidia".

The other product to be registered by Bionat is the fungus Beauveria bassiana, a microbiological insecticide indicated for various crops in the control of insects and pest mites, mainly the whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) and the brindle mite (Tetranychus urticae). This fungus contributes to the management of pest resistance to insecticides, and promotes sustainable agriculture, as it reduces the application of chemical pesticides.

As they are generic products, the registration time was shorter, about six months. By the year 2020, Bionat should request the registration of other fungi that function as biological defenses. These products are being developed through partnerships, products from bacteria. Today, Bionat has partnerships with the Biological Institute of Campinas, with Embrapa Genetic Resources and Biotechnology (Cenargen) and with the Brazilian Industrial Research and Innovation Company (Embrapii).

Bionat was conceived, explained Kimberlit, with a vision toward the future of global agribusiness and the need for products that enhance results in the field and are sustainable. It took five years for the new company to be set up. In 2014, the company sent the project to FINEP, a public agency that funds innovative research, which received the highest score for the degree of innovation presented at the time.

In 2016, the project was thoroughly studied, researched, worked and detailed with the assistance of specialized consultants and researchers from the Biological Institute of UFSCAR (Federal University of São Carlos) and ESALQ (University of São Paulo). The Bionat plant is 400 square meters, with biopesticide production capacity for treatment of up to 350 thousand hectares per year.

The plant is equipped with equipment for the production of fungi and bacteria, as a state-of-the-art bioreactor that can be controlled remotely on the cell phone. It also has an incubation and extraction process with a high degree of automation and offers a completely aseptic environment, to reduce the possibility of contamination, such as a wall covered with antibacterial hospital paint, a rubberized and washable floor, 316 stainless steel furniture pieces, with the objective of promoting a healthy space for production.

"Investments in the first phase of Bionat are expected to reach R$25 million, with the development and assembly of the factory," said Luciano de Gissi, Kimberlit's partner and industrial director. According to him, R$5 million has already been contributed and another R$20 million will be allocated to the expansion. In addition to its own resources, R$2.3 million comes from FINEP.

"It's a very promising market. There is the issue of resistance to chemicals and there is no record of resistance from biological to pests. To develop a new chemical molecule, you need to invest $450 million to $500 million. The biological goes from R$2 million to R$10 million," explained Gissi.

For the first year of operation, Gissi expects Bionat's revenue to reach R$5 million. "But the plant has the capacity to generate R$12 million in the first phase". Kimberlit had a revenue of R$100.8 million in 2018, having grown 25% in relation to the revenue in 2017. By 2019, the company estimates to grow 25% in revenue yet again.