Government and Iba launch Integrated Pesticides System (SIA)

The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (Mapa), the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Resources (Ibama), the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) and the Brazilian Cotton Institute (IBA) signed this Thursday ( 13), a technical cooperation agreement for the development of the Integrated Pesticides System (SIA), which will allow a reduction in registration deadlines for new substances and generic products. Currently, the average time for generics is four years and up to eight years for new molecules. The Brazilian Cooperation Agency of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Brazilian Association of Cotton Producers (Abrapa) also participate in the project.

Associated with the new system, SIA applications will be developed for cell phones on Android and IOS platforms. The estimated cost for implementing the System is US$2,5 million. Currently, Agrofit has registered around 2 thousand formulated products, of which approximately 50% are generic.

According to Mapa's Secretary of Agricultural Defense, Luis Rangel, the SIA will unify all existing registration requests for these products with the MAPA system, IBAMA and ANVISA. The advantages of the new system, which will operate in two years, will be transparency and speed in the registration process. “In two and a half years of Minister Blairo Maggi's administration, more than 1.100 registrations of more modern products that were less toxic to the environment and human health were made,” explained Rangel. Around 1.500 registration requests are still pending.

Cotton producers took the lead in the project as this crop is the one that most depends on innovative pesticides, due to the high incidence and variety of pests in crops. In the case of cotton, pesticides account for 30% of the production cost. In other crops the proportion is around 15%.

The Decree, which regulates the Pesticides Law, has already established the need to develop the system since 2002. This year, the Ministry of Agriculture took the lead in the initiative to comply with the legal framework.