Illegal agricultural pesticides: risks and consequences

AGRO DOESN’T STOP! This was the most written and spoken phrase in 2020. But, unfortunately, illicit activities with agricultural inputs did not stop either.

Recent cases of seizures carried out by Brazilian authorities of chemical and biological agricultural pesticides, fertilizers and pirated seeds and the quantities of products seized are surprising due to the potential to cause great losses to farmers who purchase these inputs. A fast-growing market, such as organic products, can be affected by the marketing of products that will not control the target pests.

Smuggled agricultural pesticides are those that are brought to Brazil from other countries, without authorization from the authorities. They were not analyzed by the Ministry of Agriculture, ANVISA and IBAMA, and, therefore, are not registered in the country. Counterfeit products are those that are regularly registered in Brazil, however, they are fraudulent because they do not contain the concentrations of the registered active ingredient.

The theft of agrochemicals encourages counterfeiting, as gangs include small amounts of the active ingredient in products, but these are insufficient to control pests, diseases and weeds.

The theft of agricultural pesticides from rural properties has increased significantly in recent years, bringing panic to the countryside. It was expected that, with the closure of the borders with Paraguay and Uruguay, there would be a decrease in pesticide smuggling, but this is not what is happening; Seizures this year saw significant growth, according to data released by the Federal Highway Police.

The use of these products can cause great losses to farmers due to malfunction, causing phytotoxicity to plants, lack of control of problems in crops, risk to human health and contamination of the environment, considering that they have not been scrutinized by the authorities responsible for registration. of these products in Brazil. Packaging cannot be disposed of at empty packaging reception stations and centers; therefore, these packages are burned, buried or discarded on roads, rivers and lakes. 

The loss of tax collection by public authorities and the risks to the Brazilian agribusiness export agenda are a cause for great concern for society. It is estimated that, currently, the market for illegal pesticides in Brazil, smuggling, counterfeiting and theft of products reaches 23% of the market, which represents, in values, approximately, US$ 3,15 billion, based on sales made in 2019.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, farmers ensured the supply of food to consumers in Brazil and other countries, with no shortage of products on the shelves. Safe food for consumption has been a demand from consumers worldwide and, here in Brazil, it is no different, with the search for healthy eating.

With the quarantine due to the new Coronavirus, people, working from home, began to prepare their food at home, resulting in an increase in the consumption of fresh products, and quality is a primary item in the consumer's purchasing decision. This quality can be compromised by the use of illegal agrochemicals on crops.

One of the main reasons given for purchasing smuggled pesticides is their lower cost than national products. However, many of these illegal products do not have the quality of those sold in the country. In a seizure in the state of Paraná, the smuggled product was analyzed and 25 different types of active ingredients of insecticides, fungicides and herbicides were found. If the product were applied to crops, it would cause the death of the treated plants; In these cases, farmers have no one to complain to, resulting in major economic losses.

The campaigns against illegal agricultural pesticides in Brazil aim to prevent the use of these products, recommending that farmers purchase inputs only from trusted channels such as resellers, cooperatives and directly from manufacturing industries, always accompanied by the documents required by law, the invoice with the respective agronomic recipe prescribed by a qualified professional, and with the location for returning empty packaging indicated on the invoice.

This prevention prevents farmers from running the risk of being fined by the police and agricultural inspection authorities, as smuggling and counterfeiting of pesticides are crimes provided for in the Pesticides Law (Law 7.802/89), Environmental Crimes Law (Law 9.605 /98), Smuggling Crime (Article 334 of the Penal Code), gang formation, money laundering, in addition to other legal frameworks, which lead to convictions and, in many cases, imprisonment in a closed regime. The Environmental Crimes Law provides for the application of pecuniary fines ranging from R$ 500,00 to R$ 2.000.000,00, and the most serious, the destruction of crops where the products were applied by farmers: “The cheap can come Dear".

 

By Fernando Marini, consultant at FEHMAR Consultoria Empresarial and José Otávio Menten, President of the Sustainable Agro Scientific Council (CCAS), Agronomist and Senior Professor at ESALQ/USP