New method for controlling black Sigatoka in the Amazon wins award for researcher

Researcher Luadir Gasparotto, from Embrapa Amazônia Oeste (Manaus, AM), was awarded the 2022 Professor Samuel Benchimol and Banco da Amazônia Award for Conscious Entrepreneurship, in the category of Sustainable Development Projects in the Amazon Region, with the work “Alternatives for the control of banana black Sigatoka in the Amazon.” The award values ​​the different categories of initiatives in favor of sustainable and local development in the region. The award ceremony will take place on November 25th in Porto Velho, RO.

Gasparotto presented the work he developed to prevent the spread of black Sigatoka in the pacovã banana tree, based on the application of fungicide to the plant's leaf axil. Sigatoka is considered the most destructive foliar disease with the greatest economic value in banana and long banana crops. In all large-scale banana producing regions, disease control is carried out by applying fungicides using planes and/or helicopters. In the Amazon, where climatic conditions are extremely favorable to the pathogen, aerial application is technically, ecologically and economically unfeasible.

To make it possible to control black Sigatoka in small plantations in the Amazon, Gasparotto and his team developed the technique of depositing the fungicide in the axil of the banana tree's second leaf. Applications begin on 4-month-old plants, at intervals of 60 days, and reduce from 50 annual applications to just 3 applications per crop cycle.

The researcher explains that the technique presents greater efficiency in controlling the disease, reduces the number of applications, is easily accessible to small producers, does not require a vehicle (oil, water), reduces environmental contamination, as the fungicide is placed directly on the armpit of the plant and offers greater safety to the worker, as he is not exposed to the product, reducing poisoning. To further facilitate chemical control in small banana plantations in the Amazon, the technique of injecting the fungicide into the plant's pseudostem will be developed.

About the award

The award has three categories: Local Development Initiative (IDL); Company Category in the Amazon; and Microenterprise Category in the Amazon (Flower Award), which honors two microentrepreneurs, valuing the entrepreneurial character of successful small businesses in the Amazon, developed in urban and rural areas.

Since 2014, the Professor Samuel Benchimol Award has sought to recognize and encourage sustainable development projects for the Amazon biome that stand out for their proposed environmental, economic, social or technological contribution. The honor is conferred by the National Confederation of Industry (CNI), the Federations of Industries in the region and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovations and Communications (MCTIC), through Ibict.

The Banco da Amazônia Award aims to reveal the transformation potential of the Amazon Region through concepts and practices of Creative Economy, Green Economy or Agroecology and Organic Production. The award also seeks recognition of Companies (Company in the Amazon) and Successful Microentrepreneurs in the Amazon (Prêmio Florescer).