Bioinput market grows 67% during 2021-22 crop in Brazil

Biologically-based pesticides and bioinoculants accounted for sales worth BRL2.905 billion (US$560 million) in Brazil in the 2021-22 harvest, according to the FarmTrak survey conducted by consultancy company Kynetec.

The document, obtained directly by AgroPages, showed a 67% growth compared to the previous cycle, which recorded BRL1.744 billion.

According to Kynetec, biologicals accounted for 4% of total sales in Brazil’s crop protection market, an increase of one percentage point compared to last season.

Considering the total, which includes agrochemicals and bioinputs, the market increased by 33%, rising from BRL58.384 billion in the 2020-21 harvest to the current BRL78.247 billion.

Bionematicides led sales throughout the season with a 39.6% share, representing BRL1.152 billion.

In second place are bioinsecticides with 30.7% or BRL890 million, followed by bioinoculants with 19.2% or BRL557 million, and biofungicides with 10.5% or BRL306 million.

According to Kynetec, during the 2021-22 harvest, bioinputs was used on 28% of the area planted with soy or 10.5 million hectares, in addition to being used to treat 52% of the sugarcane area at 4.74 million hectares, and 26% of off-season corn at 3.8 million hectares.

They also reached 638,000 hectares and 993,000 hectares of summer corn and cotton, 17% and 64% of these crops, respectively.

According to Kynetec's account manager, Lucas Alves, the area treated with biological products showed significant growth in terms of major crops during the 2021-22 harvest, with emphasis on the second harvest of Brazilian corn, when the use of bioinputs jumped from 13% to 26%.

In the first corn crop  in the summer, there was an increase from 4% to 17%. Soybean, the most economically important crop in Brazil, occupied 28% of the areas, compared to 21% in the 2020-21 period.

After evaluation, the biologics market linked to the potential treated area (PAT) calculated based on the number of applications by producers per cultivated area on properties and per crop recorded a growth of 29%.

By this criterion, consultancy company stressed that bioinputs treated an area equivalent to 92.521 million hectares in the main producing regions during the 2021-22 season, compared to 71.750 million hectares.

However, soybean crops accounted for 70% of the total biological PAT or 65.203 million hectares, Kynetec added.

After oilseed, the most relevant indicators were measured in second-crop corn, which accounted for 16% of total or 15.151 million hectares, followed by sugarcane with 7% or 6.807 million hectares. The list ends with cotton, coffee, HF, rice, peanuts and others.

Agronomist André Dias, Kynetec’s Director for Latin America, said that the biologics market tends to remain high in the coming cycles.

″There is a growing supply of innovation. One of the main factors driving bioinputs is the need to apply pesticides with different modes of action, to limit the resistance of fungi and pests to chemical active ingredients. Demand for more sustainable agriculture also favor organic products,″ he said.

(Editing by Leonardo Gottems, reporter for AgroPages)