2013/2014 crop threatened by pests in Brazil

The 2013/2014 crop in Brazil may be affected due to the high incidence of three pests very hard to control:caterpillar Helicoverpaarmigera, the "white fly" and the "rust" that attacks and affects the productivity of crops such as soybean, cotton, beans and corn in different regions of the country. This is the preliminary diagnosis of the National Commission of Cereals, Oilseeds fibers, from the Brazilian Agriculture and Livestock Confederation (CNA), at a meeting held recently at the organization's headquarters in Brasilia.

According to the Commission’s President, Rui Carlos Ottoni Prado, who is also president of Mato Grosoo Federation of Agriculture and Livestock (Famato), "it is necessary that the Federal government adopts urgent action to minimize losses of producers and to prevent 2013/2014 grain crop to be damaged. "

Worrying scenario - For CNA’s technical superintendent, Rosemeire Cristina dos Santos, it is a worrying scenario because of what might happen to the vegetables and fibers segments. She says that given this situation, "it will be done a complete mapping of the pests that can cause losses in 2013/2014 crop." The aim is to identify possible damages to agricultural production, in addition to the economic impacts that could affect the income of the producer, she says.

She informed about a Technical Seminar, on July 8th, held in Brasilia, to discuss and identify threats to these pests in the Brazilian agricultural sector. The conclusion of the meeting will be forwarded to the Federal Government so that preventive measures can be taken in the short term.

Despite this fact, according to Ottoni Prado, the biggest issue is the legal obstacles that prevent the fast release of new agrochemicals. In his view, the slowness and bureaucracy make the validation of new pest control products delayed. This model, he said, is fragile and cannot be ready in time to reach the planting of new crops, which begins to be cultivated in September.

According to the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa)’s expert, Mauricio Meyer, only with "soybean rust," a pest identified in Brazil in 2001, the farmers’ losses reach US$ 20.8 billion. It is an enormous cost to the soybean segment, US$ 1.8 billion each year, the farmer is forced to endure, mainly due to these elements.

The "soybean rust" had a higher incidence in Southern Brazil during 2012/2013 harvest since it is related to the intensity of rainfall in the production areas. The more intense the rainfall, the greater is the action this pest causes, premature defoliation of vegetables, reducing the plants' ability to produce grain.

According to Luis Eduardo Rangel,General Coordinator of Registration and Control of Pesticides and Others, from the Agriculture Department, (MAPA), who participated in the Committee discussions, "more important than the emergency release to this chemical products for pest control is to adopt a new sanitation policy for the country. "

The criteria that define the actions in this area date back from 1934, during President Getulio Vargas’s Government, says the expert. At that time, he recalled, prevailed "the production of coffee and smoke, in an economic context completely different from existing today."

As the president of the Commission understands, CNA sees the need for a structural change - with change of specific legislations - but "it wants a short-term policy that is able to prevent damage to the agricultural sector in the next harvest." These emergency measures would be basically the release of new pesticides that have proven efficiency by the technical bodies of the Government.

The emergency registration of new pesticides faces a very complex scenario because the solution of the problem depends on simultaneous procedures in several Federal Agencies, such as the National Sanitation Agency (ANVISA), the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources ( IBAMA) and the Department of Agriculture (MAPA).