B 3.3. What is the impact of using agrochemicals (fungicides, herbicides, insecticides) on the sugarcane crop in Brazil?
Legislation in Brazil, including norms and controls from production to the use and disposal of material, covers all the important areas. Sugarcane has no special problems, benefitting from large biological disease control programs. Sugarcane uses fewer pesticides than citrus crops, corn, coffee and soy. Insecticide use is low, and the use of fungicides is practically zero. Amongst the main sugarcane diseases and pests, control of blight (the main disease) and leafhoppers are biological. Blight has the largest biological control program in Brazil. Ants, beetles and termites are controlled chemically and it has been possible to reduce the use of a lot of agrochemicals using selective applications. Sugarcane diseases are tackled by the selection of resistant varieties in genetic improvement programs. This procedure has prevented widespread outbreaks such as the mosaic virus (1920), smut and rust diseases (1980s) and SCYLV (1990s). Improvements have produced plants that are resistant to he
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