Banana project in Brazil

Creation date: 07 June 2011

Banana plantation where the leaves have been attacked by black sigatoga.

Distribution of the market, which has a value of about 10 million USD in Brazil.

Control of fungal diseases in banana plantation. In environmentally sensitive areas, aerial spraying can be replaced by a technique where a few drops of the fungicide are placed directly on the plant.

The fungicide IMPACT®, which has recently been re-registered in the EU, has been marketed by Cheminova world-wide since 2001. IMPACT® is used for the control of fungi in many crops, for instance rust in soybeans. Brazil is the second largest banana producer in the world and 80% of the area is grown by low-technology family farms. In Brazil, fungicides represent the dominating part of the market for plant protection in banana production.

Environment, control of plant diseases, innovation and market development interact in Cheminova’s CSR initiative in Brazil

Large-scale farmers with high-technology production of soybeans and cotton have traditionally been Cheminova’s core customers in Brazil. But the development of a new application of Cheminova’s fungicide IMPACT® (flutriafol) has improved the plant production among small-scale family farms growing bananas. CSR projects in two Brazilian states have thus opened a new market for safe and environmentally-friendly control of disease caused by fungi in banana plantations.

The project started in an area in the southern part of the State of Goias where Cheminova in 2010 initiated a co-operation with the local farmers association and local and governmental consultants in plant protection. In this area, the greatest threat is a plant disease (yellow sigatoga) which can be controlled with Cheminova’s fungicide IMPACT®. In addition, there is a risk that this area will be infected with another and even more harmful plant disease (black sigatoga). So in this area plant protection has great attention, and often fungicides are sprayed by aeroplanes up to 15 times a year.

New environmentally-friendly and safe technology
Application of IMPACT® with new precision technology makes it possible to place the fungicide exactly where it is needed. With a long pipe connected to a sprayer, the farmer is able to place a few drops of fungicide in an axil from where the agent spreads in the plant and protects against fungal spores that are transported by the wind. The technology is fast, simple and efficient and it has turned out that 2-3 treatments are enough to keep down fungus attacks throughout the growing season. Being a co-operation with consultants and farmers, there has been a good understanding that it is necessary to use personal protective equipment, also when using the new equipment where the risk of getting in contact with the pesticide is very small.

Fungus control along rivers
In the state of Sao Paulo, a similar project is being established. Here is black sigatoga the dominating plant disease in bananas. If the disease control fails the banana plants will die. Therefore it is of great importance to be able to control the disease also in environmentally sensitive areas along rivers and small streams where aerial spraying is not suitable. As IMPACT® is one of the best fungicides available to control black sigatoga and as the new axil technology is environmentally benign, market possibilities and environment protection go hand in hand.

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