Safe use of agrochemicals is the topic of a meeting in Jundiaí (SP)

Researcher Hamilton Ramos, from the Engineering and Automation Center of the Agronomic Institute (CEA-IAC), an organization based in Jundiaí, São Paulo, received this Thursday (27) a group of technicians from the Fruits, Vegetables, Vegetables and Vegetables Sector Chamber of the Secretariat of Agriculture and Supply of the State of São Paulo (SAA/SP). The meeting's objectives are to discuss rules and public policies to improve safety and agronomic effectiveness in the applications of agricultural pesticides carried out in the São Paulo production chain.

According to Ramos, the meeting's agenda will focus on the Spraying Adjuvants, Aplique Bem, IAC-Quepia and Reference Unit for Technology and Safety in the Application of Agrochemicals (UR) programs. The four projects are undertaken by CEA-IAC, with the participation of the private sector, and transfer continuous benefits to São Paulo and Brazilian agriculture, according to the researcher.

Aplique Bem and IAC-Quepia, for example, according to Ramos, have been carried out for 13 years and 14 years, respectively, “with results and developments recognized in Brazil and abroad”.

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Aimed at small, medium and large rural producers, Aplique Bem brings free training directly to properties, through a team of agronomists coordinated by Ramos. Since the creation of the program, he states, around 70 thousand people in Brazil and seven other countries have received training from Aplique Bem.

One of the goals of Aplique Bem, emphasizes Ramos, is to disseminate the importance of producers carrying out periodic maintenance on agricultural sprayers to produce more and better. The researcher says that in an Aplique Bem action carried out in partnership with a supermarket chain, focused on sprayers, samples of vegetables with pesticide residues fell by more than 80%. “This data was repeated two years later, after a second analysis of the genre, involving the same group of producers.”

Regarding the IAC-Quepia program, focused on the quality and certification of personal protective equipment (PPE) - items used in agrochemical applications -, Ramos recalls that the project made Brazil the first country to have quality standards and specifications for agricultural protective clothing.

“The production of knowledge taken over by IAC-Quepia reduced the disapproval rate for clothing manufactured in Brazil from 80% at the beginning of the 2000s to 20% last year. This is a huge gain in the protection of rural work.”

Another more recent and already successful program of CEA and SAA, the Reference Unit on Technology and Safety in the Application of Agrochemicals will also be on the agenda of the Jundiaí meeting. “UR’s specialized team qualifies technical staff from agricultural companies to train rural workers to apply products. UR programs can be of short and medium duration, including customized modules”, summarizes Ramos.

CEA-IAC data indicate that between 25 million and 30 million people work in agribusiness. Of this amount, around 4,5 million are illiterate, 12 million work as temporary workers and 85% work on small properties. “The misuse of agricultural pesticides results in annual losses of around two billion reais to Brazilian agribusiness”, emphasizes Hamilton Ramos.