Abstract
Agriculture is one of the most important strategic sectors for society, generating food for the population and income for a large number of people linked to different agricultural production chains. Some pests, diseases and weeds still cause great damage to the sector, making agricultural production unfeasible when they occur in high infestations in certain regions. Chemical control has still been the main method of controlling these pests and diseases, causing major problems for agriculture, including the selection of resistant strains of pests to pesticides, poisoning of farmers, presence of toxic residues in food and environmental contamination. The difficulty in discovering new effective chemical groups for the control of pests and diseases, the increasing costs for the development and registration of chemical pesticides, in addition to the continuous bans on the use of different molecules in Brazil and in countries importing the products have made pest and disease control unsustainable with the use of chemical pesticides alone. The purpose of creating the "Center for the Sustainable Management of Pests, Diseases and Weeds" is to unite the efforts of researchers from different institutions, public and private, to establish new strategies, with emphasis on the use of biological control agents and resistant varieties, for the sustainable management of some pests and diseases of great relevance to agriculture. Researchers from Biological Institute (Instituto Biológico - IB) in partnership with researchers from various institutions in Brazil and abroad have developed several studies involving the use of biological control agents (predatory insects and mites, nematodes, fungi, Trichoderma, bacteria, viruses), extracts of plants and RNAi technologies, obtaining promising results for the control of pests, diseases and weeds, in laboratory and field conditions, however, many of these technologies were never used by most farmers, due to lack of financial resources and/ or technology available for large-scale production (with quality and low cost), to enable the use of these technologies in integrated pest and disease management programs in agriculture. To meet the multidisciplinary action that the problem imposes, the "Center for Sustainable Management of Pests, Diseases and Weeds" should develop activities on three platforms: 1) New pest, disease and weed management strategies, with emphasis on the use of agents of biological pest and disease control; 2) Environmental impacts of the use of these new technologies in agroecosystems; 3) Economic and social impacts of the use of these new technologies in the state of São Paulo. The proposal is based on the Biological Institute and counts on the participation of strategic partner institutions such as the Agronomic Institute (IAC) (Citrus, Sugarcane and Coffee Centers), Institute of Agricultural Economics (IEA), Department of Decentralization for Development (DDD)/APTA, FATEC Pompéia, University of Araraquara (UNIARA), Embrapa Cassava and Fruticulture, UNESP de Jaboticabal and Fundecitrus, among others. The main crops to be researched are: citrus, sugar cane, coffee and vegetables. The proposed Research Center should favor the development and registration of several new biopesticides for use in agriculture in Brazil and the creation of several startups by undergraduate and graduate students involved in research. (AU)
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