Spraying Adjuvants Program launches official certification seal

The Spraying Adjuvants Program takes another strategic step to ensure the reliability of agricultural adjuvants sold in the country. Starting this week, the program will issue an official seal to certify the functionality of products of this kind. The granting of the seal will be the responsibility of the Engineering and Automation Center (CEA), of the Agronomic Institute (IAC), a body of the Secretariat of Agriculture and Supply of the State of São Paulo, based in Jundiaí.

Resulting from a partnership between the CEA-IAC and the private sector, the program will authorize companies, whose products receive approval in the CEA laboratory, to stamp the new seal on the packaging and labels of these inputs. 

According to scientific researcher Hamilton Ramos, coordinator of the program, adjuvants are products added to the pesticide mixture when applying them. “Adjuvants assist in the effectiveness of spraying and phytosanitary control, as they have spreading, humectant or penetrating effects, among others. Associating an adjuvant with imprecise functionality with a good quality pesticide calls into question the investment in the crop.”

According to the researcher, agricultural adjuvants manufactured in Brazil are not registered with the Ministry of Agriculture. “Such products are not subject to the strict requirements that regulate the agricultural pesticides sector, hence the need for the market itself to seek solutions to prove the functionality of adjuvant brands sold in the country”, highlights Ramos.

According to the researcher, the IAC-SP Engineering Center has been proposing the classification of adjuvants by functionality for more than 20 years. Since then, the organization has dedicated itself to in-depth studies and research to support the evaluation of these products.

“We advocate that the criteria and methods used in evaluating the functionality of agricultural adjuvants be discussed with manufacturers, researchers and users of the products, within the scope of technical chambers such as ABNT (Brazilian Association of Technical Standards). The common goal, as we understand it, is to develop a set of standards that support an Official Certification System, but this process takes time.”

“It was due to the urgency of finding a technical basis to guide agribusiness that the CEA chose to launch its own, voluntary, adjuvant certification program”, continues Ramos. “As long as there is no official regulation for adjuvants, the price factor tends to predominate as the anchor for purchasing these products. This behavior can be harmful to the agronomic performance of crops, the environment and the health of rural workers, especially when choosing poor quality products.”