Annual turnover of Brazilian biologicals reached USD 165 million
Date:11-06-2018
By Leonardo Gottems, reporter for AgroPages
The Brazilian market for biological crop protection has seen an annual turnover of R$ 528 million (US $ 164.9 million at February / 2018 exchange rate), reports the Brazilian Association of Biological Control Companies (ABC Bio). The result was verified in a study on the biodefensive segment in the country, carried out jointly with Informa FNP.
This study is currently the largest and most comprehensive research on biodefensives in the world from the point of view of farmers, involving 683 organic producers, distributed in 15 states and that produce 11 different types of crops, representing 80% of the Brazilian agricultural market.
According to the research, the biological assets most used by Brazilian farmers are various types of Bacillus sp, baculovirus, Beauveria, Cotesia, Metarhizium, Paecilomyces, Pochonia, Trichoderma and Trichogramma. According to the survey, 10 million hectares are currently treated with biological defenses in Brazil.
The main crops that use the input were soybeans, sugarcane, coffee, vegetables and fruits. No fewer than 39% of Brazilian farmers claim to use organic products, while 98% of respondents who used biological defenses in the 2017/2018 crop said they intend to also use them during the next harvest.
The most cited factors for the decision to use biodefensives are the efficiency of the control, mentioned by 76% of the producers surveyed, and the safety of the application, indicated by 60% of those questioned. On the other hand, 57% of rural producers said they were not familiar with biodefensives.
In terms of biological assets, the study found that microbiologicals predominate, both in terms of area cultivated (80%) and in values traded (89%) in the Brazilian market for biological defenses. Another finding of the study: of the market value found (R$ 528 million), 92% refers to the use of products registered in the Ministry of Livestock and Supply.
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