​Producers win award for effective control of whitefly pest in soybeans

The company DuPont Crop Protection announced last Friday (18), at an event held in the city of São Paulo, the group of rural producers who won the first edition of the DuPont Colheita Farta Benevia productivity competition. The tournament rewards farmers who obtain the greatest differences in productivity when comparing crops treated with the company's Benevia insecticide and areas that receive the so-called 'standard producer treatment'.

The first place winner in the competition was soybean farmer Ronaldo Krohling, from the city of Diamantino (MT), followed by producers João Ricardo dos Santos Silva, from the municipality of Edeia (GO) and Rui Luiz Gaio, from Correntina (BA). Krohling achieved an average productivity of 57,2 bags per hectare, and was considered the tournament champion because the treatment with Benevia®, on his property, exceeded the average productivity of the market standard treatment by 21,12%, of 44,8 bags/ha.

“The area we chose to enroll in the Colheita Farta program was the one with the highest incidence of whiteflies on the property. With the application of Benevia, we obtained superior control of nymphs and adult insects, greater productivity and less sooty mold. The product fully met our expectations, even the weight of the harvested grain was greater than average", reports Ronaldo Krohling.

Second place in the competition, João Ricardo dos Santos Silva harvested an average of 72,7 bags of soybeans per hectare through the Benevia program, 9,63% above the standard treatment (65,7 bags/ha). In third place, Rui Luiz Gaio produced 5% more from treatment with DuPont's insecticide: 80 bags/ha, compared to 76 bags/ha from the standard market treatment.

“I participated in the program because of the need to control whiteflies. Before the second application of the Benevia insecticide, the reduction in pest infestation was already visible. Due to the results in the area reserved for the competition, I extended the use of the product to 150 hectares of crops", says Santos Silva.

Third place, Rui Gaio, highlights that he has already lost 30% of crops, in previous harvests, due to whitefly infestations. For him, being a finalist in the Colheita Farta program was an extra incentive to encourage his work team to improve the quality of the crop and increase soybean productivity.

According to DuPont, at least 2016 producers from the Mapitoba and Bahia, Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Goiás, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro regions participated in the DuPont Colheita Farta Benevia® 17-40 harvest program.

“The competition's experimental fields demonstrated that the results of whitefly control with the Benevia insecticide can be observed through healthier, more leafy plants with a low incidence of sooty mold. The crop becomes more vigorous and the final result is translated into greater productivity", summarizes DuPont Brasil's marketing manager, Ivan Jarussi.

According to DuPont, the insecticide Benevia belongs to the chemical group of Anthranilic Diamides and is described as a versatile, broad-spectrum agrochemical, selective to the natural enemies of pests. “It is an ideal product for the practice of integrated pest management (IPM) and whitefly resistance management", concludes Jarussi.