Embrapa launches guide on coffee pest and disease management

New publication in the Embrapa series, Technical Circular No. 9 – “Integrated management of pests and diseases of conilon and robusta coffee”, launched by Embrapa Café, coordinator of the Coffee Research Consortium, aims to present in detail the main pests and diseases that affect coffee production. Coffeea canephora in the national territory, and also provide information on the biology and recommendations necessary for the adoption of integrated management of phytosanitary problems that affect the cultivation of this type of coffee.

In general, coffee pests and diseases represent limiting factors for the production and productivity of the crop, both for small family farmers and for large-scale producers, and, therefore, can cause great losses to producers when not managed based on technical recommendations. To this end, this Circular presents the main monitoring and management guidelines that aim to mitigate and minimize the harmful effects of such problems in relation to the species. C. canephora.

The kind of C. canephora, originally from the African continent, is made up of genetic materials from different botanical groups, with two groups cultivated in Brazil: robusta and conilon. Conilon coffees are characterized by plants with a bushy growth habit, branched stems, elongated leaves, early to late maturation cycle, drought tolerance and greater susceptibility to diseases. Robusta coffees have a more upright growth habit, larger diameter and less branched stems, larger leaves and fruits, later maturation, greater vigor, less drought tolerance and greater resistance to diseases.

Brazil is also historically a major producer and exporter of the species. C. canephora, with the states of Espírito Santo and Rondônia leading the production of this species. In general, depending on the specific peculiarities of each Brazilian harvest, each year, the species of Coffea arabica represents around 70% of the total production and that of the species of C. canephora 30%. Given these performances, it can be seen that the production of Robusta and Conilon coffees has historically had great economic and social importance for our country.

However, coffee pests and diseases C. canephora, which are the subject of this Technical Circular, as previously mentioned, represent limiting factors for crop production and productivity. Therefore, to ensure the sustainability of production systems, pest and disease management and control strategies must be prioritized and applied on a temporal and spatial scale. This strategy is based on a set of actions that promote less impact on the environment and worker health. To this end, according to the technical recommendations of the Circular, it requires the multidisciplinary involvement of different areas of knowledge throughout the production chain, in order to guarantee productivity, quality, profitability and rural development.

Technical Circular No. 9 – “Integrated management of pests and diseases of conilon and robusta coffee”, launched by Embrapa Café, aims to provide updated information on the main pests and diseases and measures for adopting integrated management in conilon and robusta coffee crops. For chemical control, the Phytosanitary Agrochemicals System (Agrofit) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (Mapa) was consulted, which gathers information on agricultural pesticides registered for the crops.

At the end of the publication, a summary of monitoring and management guidelines for controlling pests and diseases of conilon and robusta coffees was included, in order to facilitate access to information in the field. It is expected that the set of information presented will add knowledge and facilitate decision-making by producers.