IAC's Apply Well Program receives the 2021/2022 Most Integrity Seal from MAPA

The Apply Bem Program developed by the Agronomic Institute (IAC-APTA), in partnership with the company UPL, received the Mais Integridade 2021/2022 Seal in the Social Responsibility category, granted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (MAPA), on this 23rd of February 2022. The Seal obtained by the IAC, from the São Paulo Department of Agriculture and Supply, aims to encourage, recognize and reward integrity practices by agribusiness companies from the perspective of social responsibility, sustainability, ethics and commitment to mitigating practices of fraud, bribery and corruption. The Seal was awarded at an event in Brasília, broadcast online on MAPA's YouTube. A video about Aplique Bem's actions was shown during the event, which was attended by the Minister of Agriculture, Tereza Cristina.

The Apply Well Program trains rural workers to practice adequate spraying, with a view to taking care of the applicator's health, environmental preservation and efficiency in controlling pests and diseases in crops. This work is unrelated to the commercial brands and marketing strategies of the sponsoring company, UPL. With 15 years of operation, Aplique Bem has trained around 75 thousand rural workers, on small and medium-sized properties, in approximately one thousand municipalities in 23 states in Brazil. It was also adopted in seven other countries: Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Colombia, Ghana, Mali, Mexico and Vietnam. The Program also involves the evaluation of sprayers in use, based on ISO 16122. The activity is carried out using mobile laboratories, called TechMóveis, taken to rural properties. Aplique Bem also trains agronomist engineers and technicians in training at Agronomy universities and Agricultural Technical Colleges throughout Brazil.

“We bring knowledge to rural workers, without the hassle of taking them out of the field, and we explain aspects of spraying, in language understandable to these professionals. These are procedures that help them understand the reason for each sprayer adjustment, showing in practice how inappropriate use of technology can harm not only crops, but also personal health and even that of their family”, says Hamilton Ramos, researcher at IAC responsible for the work.

IAC is among 17 organizations in the agricultural sector awarded by MAPA. Of these, nine received the award for the first time, represented by the Green Seal, and eight achieved renewal of the Yellow Seal certificate. The two “Best Good Practices” were also recognized in the “Environmental Sustainability” and “Social Responsibility” categories.

According to Ramos, rural workers are open to adopting improvements in the management they carry out, as long as the technologies reach their reality, in a didactic way and with viable adoption. “Producers do not use products incorrectly because they want to, but because, in many scenarios, they lack access to quality information. The producer is a rural businessman and, like any other businessman, needs to be competitive in the harvest to obtain a return”, comments the scientist.

According to the IAC researcher, the cost of agricultural pesticides could fall by half, if producers incorporate good practices from Aplique Bem “For us, as important or more important than the number of farmers and applicators benefiting from Aplique Bem, is the change of behavior that the Program has been introducing, mainly in small and medium-sized properties in Brazil, over 15 years of activity”, highlights Ramos.