Brazil shares plague control techniques with African countries

Brazil plans to help more African countries deal with a plague affecting several types of crops, particularly cotton, corn, and soybeans: the fall armyworm. It has been detected in at least 35 countries in Africa, but they no longer pose a significant threat to Brazilian agriculture, thanks to the technology developed in the country.

Brazil’s integrated plague control techniques, including efforts to fight the fall armyworm, have been implemented by seven African nations: Togo, Mali, Benin, Chad, Burkina Faso, Malawi, and Mozambique. To learn more about these techniques and use them in plague control in their countries, 12 other representatives from the continent came to Brazil to take part in the Fall Armyworm Study Tour (Faw Tour). A number of visits are slated to be paid to units of the Brazilian Corporation of Agricultural Research (Embrapa), universities, and institutes that developed techniques for combating the plague.

“We’re not scared of the fall armyworm in Brazil,” said Embrapa Corn and Sorghum Antônio Álvaro Purcino. The unit, in Minas Gerais state, will be one of the units visited by the African representatives. The plague, Purcino says, was once responsible for major damages to Brazilian crops, and caused losses from 30% to 50% of the affected areas. “We’ve been working for over 40 years to find solutions to deal with it, especially after the expansion we saw in corn production.”

Faced with this reality, Brazil developed a “solutions menu,” with technology and techniques using genetically modified products, pesticides, biological pesticides, natural enemies, and crop protection. “We’ve developed an arsenal of tools that can be used to address the plague at a low cost,” Purcino explained.

The fall armyworm found an adequate environment in Brazil, he went on to say, chiefly due to the rotation carried out in some production areas, where soybeans are planted in the summer and corn in the winter. “This was favorable because it created the so called green bridge, which provided the food for this plague on Brazilian plantations.”

The challenge now is “adapting the Brazilian techniques to the local situation in African countries,” said Almino Afonso, director at the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC), the institution that promoted a seminar Monday (26) before the tour. To meet this goal, support will be provided by the United States Agency for International Development (Usaid).

Attending the seminar’s opening ceremony at the Itamaraty Palace, seat of the Brazilian foreign ministry, was US Ambassador to Brazil Peter Michael McKinley, who praised the Brazilian initiative of sharing knowledge in Africa. “Working together is a fundamental commitment. We’re here to discuss this plague and the Brazilian experience to deal with it,” the diplomat said.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira