Brazil Declares Emergency Due to Coffee Borer Outbreak

Jackie Pucci Posted by Jackie Pucci|28 January 2015
Brazil’s Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (MAPA) declared a state of emergency due to a coffee borer outbreak in São Paulo and Espirito Santo states this week, the country’s top farm lobbying organization said.

Under the decision by MAPA, which responded to a request from the Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock of Brazil (CNA), the phytosanitary state of emergency is valid for one year. Authorized for import are insecticides based on cyantraniliprole — the same product used by producers of Minas Gerais last year, when the state declared a state of emergency due to the same plague. The import is based on Ordinance No. 711 in July last year.

The coffee borer (Hypothenemus hampei) is among the most harmful pests to coffee crops around the world. Insecticides are traditionally used to fight the pest. However, in Brazil, there are no products authorized to control of the pest since it announced the phase-out of endosulfan in 2010.
Since last year, the National Coffee Commission, CNA and the National Coffee Council have been working together with the main grain-producing states, agriculture and livestock associations and state departments of agriculture, to request federal governmental measures to control the pest.

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