Study highlights the negative impact on the economy caused by crop pests

A study conducted by the Center for Advanced Studies in Applied Economics (CEPEA), at ESALQ/USP, evaluated the economic impacts generated by the main pests that attack soybean, corn and cotton plantations in Brazil, which account for around 86% of area planted with grains and cereals, 35% of agribusiness exports and 16% of jobs in Brazilian agriculture.

Based on results from agricultural research on control effectiveness, average productivity losses were considered, ranging from 9,5% to 40%, depending on the type of pest analyzed and which was not properly controlled.

It is common to associate the damage caused by pests with the losses of farmers. Just to control Asian soybean rust, the main disease of the crop, producers directly invest R$5,75 billion annually. However, without adequate control, the disease would reach alarming levels, reducing productivity by 30%, which would mean the need for more than R$30 billion in additional investments to compensate for the loss – either with the planting of new areas or with the increase in domestic prices, which would need to be adjusted by 22,9%.

NIn this hypothetical scenario, with the lack of control actions on the part of the farmer, Gross Revenue would fall by 13,9% and the economic result of soybean planting in the country would go from a profit of R$ 8,32 billion to a loss of R$3,37 billion, with losses of US$4,5 billion in export revenue. It is important to remember that, in 2017, Brazil celebrated a record trade surplus, reaching US$67 billion, whereas in 2014 the country recorded a deficit of around US$4 billion.

Damages of the same magnitude would be caused by the lack of control of the Caterpillar Helicoverpa armigera, A pest that attacks several crops, including cotton and soybeans, and has a high potential to cause damage and reduce crop productivity by around 40%. Damage like this also has macroeconomic repercussions: 0,57 percentage points in the general IPCA of 2017 and 1,03 percentage points in the IPCA of food.

Given all these numbers, we remember that food is the main component of the Brazilian citizen's basic food basket. This means that increasing the price of food inputs means, in practice, penalizing citizens with lower purchasing power, as a large part of the income is committed to basic items for survival, with no room for cutting superfluous items from the family budget.

It is for this reason that modern agricultural production, with the adoption of its own inputs to obtain better productivity, brings real environmental benefits by reducing the amount of arable land and other natural resources used, as well as social benefits for the distribution of food at affordable prices. righteous.