Brazil: Partnership strengthens security in the application of agrochemicals

By Leonardo Gottems, reporter for AgroPages

The FonteAgro platform has announced an operational agreement with the Reference Unit for Technology and Safety in the Application of Agrochemicals (UR). 

The objective of the partnership is the production and management of specific training courses for companies and entities in the agricultural sector, researcher Hamilton Ramos, UR coordinator, revealed exclusively to AgroPages.

According to him, UR will host, on the FonteAgro training platform, courses about the new Regulatory Norm 31.7 (N.R. 31.7), which will come into force in October 2021. This regulation organizes the rural work environment according to essential safety standards – including specific guidelines for the application of pesticides in crops.

“It is a series of modular, recorded courses, for online access and expected to last eight, sixteen and twenty hours in total, depending on the target audience and the focus of the training. This content will allow from the training of instructors, to multiplying the new N.R. 31.7 in companies, to providing support for the training of rural workers who work directly in the application of pesticides. All participants will be provided with a document that certifies that they have completed  the course,” Ramos said to AgroPages.

Also, according to Ramos, the resources of the Reference Unit platform allow participants to interact with the coordination of the course at different times. The objective is to discuss, for example, practical issues such as the use of adjuvants, backup sprayers, turbopulverizers and bar spraying.

“The platform that centralizes the training is friendly and accessible to people with different profiles,” the researcher explained. According to the UR coordinator, the more in-depth courses will include face-to-face modules taught at the CEA-IAC facilities.