New intelligent software helps with integrated pest management

It is estimated that 15% of all food in the world is lost due to the action of agricultural pests, this includes insects, diseases and weeds. In sugarcane cultivation, for example, insect pests such as the borer, Diatraea saccharalis, the cigarhopper, Mahanarva fimbriolata and the weevil, Sphenophorus levis, added to other pests, cause losses of around R$10,9 billion per year. To help producers reduce these large losses, GAtec, a reference in the sector and specialized in the development of tools for agro-industrial management, together with Entomol, a consultancy specialized in sugarcane pests, present to the market their new technology called by Mapfy Shield.

The intelligent platform will act throughout the chain through planning, monitoring and control, optimizing the entire operation and allowing rapid decision-making for sustainable pest management. The technology will be characterized by its strong differential as it covers all stages of the integrated sugarcane pest management program, in addition to allowing the creation of a database rich in information and the carrying out of economic studies based on updated loss rates for the different varieties of sugar cane between the different regions of Brazil.

According to Fernando Bortolazzo, founding partner and CTO of GAtec, Mapfy Shield is a totally innovative technology different from other similar solutions offered on the market. The tool is free from commercial bias with regard to chemical and biological products, always aiming at operational efficiency and cost reduction for producers. “The first indication we give to the producer is always to prioritize costs and sustainable management, which is why we recommend, whenever possible, the adoption of biological and physiological control first. As for the chemical pesticides available, we will suggest the best options without committing to any brand on the market”, he highlights.

Among its differentiators is high technology with the use of Cloud, Bigdata and Artificial Intelligence for predictability of areas most susceptible to pests and for recommending the best control at the right time. In addition, areas are blocked according to groupings of attributes and geographic distances with the definition of homogeneous sampling blocks, reducing the number of areas and points sampled and there is also an interactive offline mobile application with monitoring sheets and orientation maps. “Our main objective with this new platform is to speed up the entire IPM process and provide the rational use of inputs, preserving the environment and natural enemies with good sustainable management practices, in addition to the participation of customers in a benchmarking exclusive and validated”, says the director.

The Mapfy Shield project is being developed by a highly qualified multidisciplinary technology team and will cover all crops, pests, weeds and diseases that can affect crops. However, in this first phase of launch, the first module will only be for sugarcane pests. The new platform is being developed based on concepts and technical knowledge from consultants with more than 46 years of experience in the sector and for this GAtec counts on Entomol Consultoria, led by its director, Luiz Carlos de Almeida, agronomist, researcher and specialist in entomology.

According to him, who is responsible for the software's pest database, and who has worked with entomology since 1974, the main benefit of the tool is the sustainable management of pests. “Many people adopt the strategy of very aggressive control, which even makes it difficult for natural enemies that occur in that area to act. Our objective is to reduce costs within rationality, always seeking sustainable management, reducing the levels of damage to pests throughout the period in which it will operate, allowing quick decision-making”, highlights the entomologist.

As an example, if we manage to reduce the sugarcane borer infestation rate by 1%, in a unit with 35 thousand hectares, it is possible to generate savings of almost R$3 million in the agricultural area alone. In the industrial area, the losses caused by the drill are related to the reduction in industrial yields (RTC, RGD and recovered from the SJM factory), as well as the increase in the consumption of inputs (lime, sulfuric acid, antifoams and antibiotics) and these values ​​can increase of R$10 million per harvest.

Deployment

Mapfy Shield is already being implemented in three large partner plants, where thorough research into technology, processes and business rules was carried out. Technicians are mapping and starting development, and by the first half of this year, this first version will be available to these customers. “At the same time, other interested customers can get in touch to participate in this first phase of the project. A very important point is that Mapfy Shield has native integration with GAtec's current AGRO solution and SimpleFarm, in addition to providing simple integration with other market platforms”, concludes Bortolazzo.