Dalbulus maidis doubles spending on insecticides of corn

By Leonardo Gottems, reporter for AgroPages

The costs to the Brazilian farmer to control the corn leafhopper (Dalbulus maidis) caused a surge in investment in specific insecticides, stated the recently completed BIP (Business Intelligence Panel) study by Spark Smarter Decisions.

The total market of products for the protection of the corn crop as the second Brazilian crop also called the “safrinha”, rose to US$1.36 billion. In a cycle lasting an average of four months in winter, insecticides shared 36% of the cost, or around $490 million.

As compared with the previous off-season, said the consultancy, the data revealed little variation in sales. The survey, however, confirmed the trend of the advance of the corn leafhopper in crops, Spark noted.

According to the consultancy's project analyst, Vitor Hugo Leite, the producer's investment in handling this pest, which in previous surveys had emerged among the crop's emerging phytosanitary challenges, practically doubled. According to the executive, products specific to the control of the leafhopper currently account for 14% of the corn insecticide segment in the off-season ($70 million), compared to 8% in the 2019 cycle ($36 million).

Described by specialists as a vector for the transmission of economically relevant diseases, including pale stun, red stun and thin streaked virus, the corn leafhopper causes the appearance of unproductive and undersized ears, mainly due to reduced absorption of nutrients by plants.

According to BIP Spark, the increase in sales of insecticides for corn leafhoppers was due to the intense pressure of the pest in 2021, observed in the central producing regions. Leite emphasized that in the Brazilian state of Paraná, the adoption of products jumped from 9% to 42%. In Goiás, it rose to 81%, against 57%. In Mato Grosso do Sul, this ratio went from 8% to 21%.

"In the general analysis, the adoption of specific insecticides for the corn leafhopper increased from 19% of the planted area, in the 2020 off-season, to 35% in 2021. The average number of treatments also rose, from 1.7 to 2.1, an increase of 24% and highly representative,” Leite highlighted.

Official data added to the Spark study attests that the area planted with corn in the 2021 harvest, of 14.6 million hectares, corresponded to about 80% of the total cultivated with the cereal in the country, compared to summer corn, sown between September and December and harvested at the beginning of the following year. Summer corn occupied 3.6 million hectares in the last cycle.

Also, according to Spark, the insecticide segment for the corn leafhopper should return to growth given the current projections, linked to possible increases in the planted area and prices of agricultural commodities with higher added value.

OTHER SEGMENTS

The BIP Spark Milho/Safrinha 2021 also found that the herbicide category ranked second in the list of pesticides most in demand by the producer, with a 24% share or $325 million. Fungicides, the third segment in sales, inform the consultancy, accounted for $260 million (19% of the total), followed by products for seed treatment: 17% or $229 million.

Other inputs for crop protection close Spark's survey with a 5% stake ($63 million). As the researchers pointed out, there was no record of relevant variations in the participation of each category of products used in off-season corn, more or less, with the total sales of the 2020 cycle.