Ihara launches highly selective herbicide for sugarcane in Brazil

IHARA is launching another great novelty product for sugarcane crops in Brazil. The herbicide, YAMATO, promises to offer even more innovation and efficiency to IHARA‘s portfolio for the segment, by adding a formulation that is an evolution of one of the main pre-emerging actives used around the world. In Brazil, the technology is exclusive to IHARA.

According to Thiago Duarte (IHARA's Regional Marketing Manager for Culture),  YAMATO offers the considerable advantage of being highly selective in managing competition from weeds in sugarcane crops. ″This technology is already present, in association, in two of our products aimed at the segment, which are FALCON and RITMO. Now it is also available in an isolated formulation, allowing producers to use it flexibly for all types of control and at all times of the year.″

Duarte also pointed out that in addition to its very high selectivity, another feature that makes YAMATO a great asset is the absence of a ″carryover,″ meaning that the use of the product does not require a subsequent grace period within the area, making it ready to receive another planting right after the application. ″It is a great wild card, which makes IHARA‘s portfolio 100% complete for the pre-emergent management of this crop, with no gaps. A totally complete and very robust menu of solutions,″he added.

High productivity

The new IHARA technology was presented in Campinas last week to an audience composed of industry leaders, customers and the press. On the occasion, Thiago Duarte also highlighted the importance of the sugarcane production chain for the Brazilian economy and the country's competitiveness, driven by high average productivity, due to soil quality and favorable weather conditions. ″Often, however, the incidence of pests and diseases limits the productive potential of crops, which could achieve more expressive results with appropriate defensive management. That is why IHARA invests a lot in the development of innovations that really make a difference to crop productivity and the quality of sugarcane harvested in the country.″

Investments by Brazilian farmers in phytosanitary technologies are reflected in the constant increase in productivity in Brazil’s sugarcane cultivation. Information released by the Sugarcane Technology Center (CTC) indicates that 67.3 tons per hectare were harvested in October 2022, representing a 21% increase in the crop’s agricultural yield compared to the same period in the 2021/22 harvest at 55.5 tons per hectare.

Productivity gains are also recorded by Rabobank in a report released on 11/9, which estimates that Brazilian sugarcane crushing in the country’s central and southern region of the country will total 575 million tons in the 2023/2024 harvest, compared to 540 million tons forecasted for the 2022/2023 cycle.