The reason why Brazil has become the world's largest producer and user of biological control products may be due to three aspects: the vast planting area; the continuous utilization of the planting area; and the climate conditions. They also noted that the long history of using biological control products in fields is also an important factor.
Brazil used Metarhizium anisopliae to control sugarcane leafhoppers as early as the 1960s, and baculoviruses to control soybean bollworms in the 1970s are typical examples. During the same period, the use of parasitic wasps as a conventional means of controlling sugarcane borers was promoted across the country. The successful application of these biological control methods inspired research investment in biological control of pests and diseases in the following decades. But biological control products for weeds have not had such successful applications.
Researchers also say that for many years biological agents have been mainly produced by farmers or sold without registration due to a lack of competitiveness compared with chemical pesticides and a lack of interest from large companies in these products. That changed then, and in the 2000s pesticide regulations required biologics companies to register their products.
At the beginning of this century, a new registration method for biological preparations was created, with products registered for use in organic farming. This method makes the registered strains applicable to multiple companies, simplifies the registration process, speeds up the registration process, and reduces registration costs. As the biologics market grew and the use of chemical pesticides became increasingly problematic, legislation was enacted to prioritize the registration of biologics.
Another important improvement is the registration of biologics by target rather than crop, unlike chemical pesticides, thus motivating the registration and promotion of biologics.
Considering the growth rate in recent years, the area used for biological control products in Brazil must exceed 70 million hectares. The crops with the largest application areas of registered biological control products in 2022 are soybeans (20 million hectares), corn (9.8 million hectares), sugarcane (6.6 million hectares), coffee (400,000 hectares), and other crops at 4.1 million hectares.
The number of registered biological agents in Brazil increased from 1 in 2005 to 482 in February 2023. According to researchers' analysis, the most dramatic expansion of the biological control market is nematode control products. Its market has even surpassed chemical nematicides and has become Brazil's largest biological control market, accounting for 44% of biological agent sales in 2022.
While the number of biocontrol product registrations has increased significantly, this is not representative of actual adoption by growers, as on-farm production has also increased, ie companies set up small-scale factories on farms to produce the desired biocontrol products.
Finally, the researchers pointed out that four actions are urgently needed for the continued growth of biological control in Brazil:
1. Develop biological herbicides;
2. Use biological control products only or in combination with other environmentally friendly methods to control soybean rust, coffee leaf rust, and powdery mildew in various crops;
3. Choose new biological control products that are adapted to tropical climate and climate change;
4. Train producers in the use of biological control products.
Source：AgroPages
