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Pesticide ban fuels beetle infestation in Brazilian coffee crop
Jul. 31, 2017
Brazil's coffee industry is bracing for a rough year in part due to an infestation of a beetle previously controlled by a now-banned pesticide.
Reuters reports that the nation's coffee farmers used endosulfan to control the berry borer beetle — whose females burrow into green coffee beans to lay their eggs — for four decades. In 2013, however it was banned by Brazilian health authorities due concerns over its impact on human health and persistence in the environment.
Alternative pesticides, however, proved largely ineffective, and the beetle thrived amid rainy weather and a plentiful supply of beans left on the ground following a previous harvest.
The infestation, Reuters noted, is the largest in recent memory. Coffee-growing regions estimated that 5 percent to 30 percent of the crop was damaged by the beetle.
"[The beetle] is difficult to control," coffee farm group owner Thomas Hojo told the publication. "Its proliferation can cause incalculable losses."
The outbreak compounds other unfavorable conditions in the country, including poor weather and plant fatigue. The infestation also falls along the smaller, off-year harvest in the biennial coffee crop cycle.
The harvest was projected to be 11 percent lower even before the beetle outbreak.
In addition to crop loss, industry observers said the infestation would result in more lower-grade coffees sold to large companies such as Starbucks or Nestlé.
Source: ChemInfo
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