Embrapa and Agrocinco partnership should yield new lettuce and tomato plants

Embrapa Genetic Resources and Biotechnology (Brasília, DF) has just signed a new contract with Agrocinco, a national company operating in the production, commercialization and research market for new vegetable hybrids. The partnership not only strengthens the search for sustainable practices but also products designed to serve producers and consumers.

Having been on the market for two decades and since 2011 incorporated into the holding company Dux Company, to which Arion Forests and Research Station also belong, Agrocinco's objective in the partnership with this Embrapa Unit is, in the coming years, to obtain biofortified lettuce plants and of virus-resistant tomatoes. This is cutting-edge research and, as it requires paths ranging from laboratory tests to those carried out in the field and also requires approval from the Technical Biosafety Commission (CTNBio), products normally reach the market in more than a decade. 

Partners for 19 years 

The relationship of trust between Agrocinco and Embrapa is long-standing. Luís Galhardo, director of the company, is optimistic about the beginning of the development of research related to the current partnership contract, which deals with lettuce and tomato plants, especially since for 19 years the company he represents has been working together not only with Embrapa Genetic Resources and Biotechnology, but also with other Units. 

“Agrocinco has been working in partnership with Embrapa since 2002 and, at that time, it was focused on selling seeds that were developed and produced exclusively by the state-owned company. From 2007 onwards, based on the public and private partnership law, we signed joint projects, where part of the resources come from our company and the other part from Embrapa”, explains Galhardo. 

According to the director of Agrocinco, the partnership is “a very fruitful relationship because we are developing specific seeds for our problems, for our climate and the diseases themselves are really different from one to another. Sometimes, the same species has another type of virus or fungi and there are mutations between diseases depending on the location where you are working. And that is why our partnership is so fruitful”, assures Luís Galhardo.