Biotrop plans to register 58 new products by 2025

In agribusiness, as in the vast majority of sectors, the topic of sustainability has never been as hot as it has been in recent years. This, added to other factors - such as the high dollar and the scarcity of traditional inputs - has caused the search for natural and biological inputs to reach increasingly significant levels, and led companies operating in this market to quickly structure themselves to serve to latent demand.

With its first product (biopesticide) registered in 2020, the goal of Biotrop, a national manufacturer of natural and biological products for agriculture, is to obtain 2025 more registrations of new solutions in inoculants and fertilizers by 10, reaching 130, in addition to 48 new biodefensive products, totaling 66 currently.

To reach these numbers, the company is currently expanding its factory in Curitiba/PR, from 4,3 million liters per year to have the capacity to produce 7 million in 2022, going to 9 million liters in 2023. A second unit industrial plant in the same location is also projected and will increase production to 16 million liters per year in mid-2023. In addition to these investments, Biotrop intends to make new acquisitions of industrial plants in Brazil in the short term.

According to Fábio Pevide, agronomist and director of regulatory affairs at Biotrop, all this expansion is linked to the increase in production capacity to serve the market and to produce new products based on fungi, bacteria and botanical extracts, and will have the capacity to serving 50 million hectares in the production of fruit and vegetables, soybeans, sugar cane, corn, beans, potatoes, tomatoes, wheat and forest areas. “Approximately R$60 million will be invested in the two works”, he highlights.

The company wants to continue on a growth path, and plans to consolidate itself in the United States within three years, where there are currently 16 products in the registration phase. “Our projection, bringing together the Americas, USA and Europe, is 124 new registrations by 2025”, details Pevide.

What's next

A new experimental station of the company will be accredited to carry out research, development and testing of new biological solutions in the field, creating technologies that will, once registered, be made available to producers in the short/medium term.

Among these solutions, Biotrop intends very soon to launch a bioinsecticide with unprecedented application, and also a product that combines biofungicide and bionematicide action. The first, close to its commercial approval, is Biokato, which uses the association of two bacteria to control the corn leafhopper (Dalbulus Maidis), whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) and brown stink bug (Euschistus heros).

“BTP 011”, still without a commercial name, is a biofungicide and bionematicicide. It involves the association of three bacilli and will be applied to control root rot (Rhizoctonia solani) and root rot nematode (Pratylenchus brachyurus).

“We will also have launches for other foliar diseases and other stink bugs”, points out the professional.

New for 2023

Another new solution that Biotrop will put on the market next year is being internally called “NPK Biológico”. The letters refer to the main components of fertilizers, which are nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (k).

The launch arrives at a good time for the national market, as it has features that meet current demand. “It is a formulation entirely based on bacteria and was developed to reduce or eliminate the need for the application of chemical fertilizers”, explains the agronomist.

Regulation

In Brazil, the evaluation and registration of biological products is regulated by three government agencies: Anvisa, Ibama and Mapa. Bioinputs are regulated by Law 7802/1989, which is currently under review by PL 6299.

The director of Biotrop, who has worked in the regulatory market for 20 years, highlights that the federal government has prioritized the approval of biological products. However, he highlights that the lack of manpower to work specifically on this claim is still felt. “The adoption of biologicals will increase significantly in the coming years, as will global demand from countries that import agricultural commodities, so it is important that more products are approved in less time. With prioritization, companies would also start to invest even more in innovation”, concludes Pevide.