Coffee producers protect crops and overcome climate instability with drip irrigation

We have observed enormous climate changes this year, such as high temperatures, hailstorms, intense drought, frost and all of this interferes with a greater intensity of pests, diseases and weeds in crops, which has been noticed in Arabica coffee.

For this reason, it is common to intensify mainly chemical management, such as the use of thiamethoxan to control leaf miner (Leucoptera coffeella) in Arabica coffee, or chemical associated with biological.

In this way, producers who have an irrigation system on their property have the alternative of applying chemical, biological or organic products to protect crops via irrigation called Crop Protection (or Chemigation), being able to diversify their forms of management.

Crop Protection provides numerous benefits such as greater speed and safety in application, greater use of the irrigation system, less need for labor, less machinery traffic in the field, consequently less soil compaction and, most interestingly, the possibility of application in any time of day, making it less dependent on the weather when applying the products.

However, some care must be taken when applying these products via the irrigation system, such as the proper use of PPE, knowing the product applied, target and grace period, respecting the advance and injection times of the system.

And to be effective in the application, the system must be performing adequately, that is, it is necessary to carry out preventive maintenance on the system on a routine basis so that there are no losses in the application of the products.

In addition to allowing greater uniformity of application and safety, it allows for less water and electricity consumption, considering that the application will be carried out in a localized manner, thus also bringing its benefits to the environment.

Gabriela Terra, Netafim Agronomic Specialist