Several fronts
Among other activities of note in the phytosanitary area in all
major apple producing regions across Brazil, Embrapa Grape and Wine
officials point to the continuity of the Cydia pomonella monitoring program,
whose eradication was an unprecedented conquest in 2014, and the fight against
the European Canker, which is a cause for concern for the growers because of its poten-
tial damage, for the death and decreased vigor of the plants. The research unit is a part-
nership of the apple sector in the European Apple Snails Canker Control and Prevention Pro-
gram, created in 2013 by the Ministry of Agriculture.
TheprogramgetssupportfromtheABPM,universities,privatecompanies,stateinstitutionslikethe
SecretariatofAgriculture,LivestockandIrrigationinRioGrandedoSul(Seapi),SantaCatarinaStateAgri-
culturalDevelopmentIntegratedCompany(Cidasc)andtheAgriculturalSurveillanceAgencyofParaná
(Adapar).AccordingtoSilvioAndréMeirellesAlves,researcherwithEmbrapaGrapeandWineandcoor-
dinatoroftheproject,themaindiseasedisseminatingfactorsincludethecultivationofinfectedseed-
lingsorcontaminationthroughplantlesions,forexample,resultingfromthepruningprocess.
That is why scientific studies and technical recommendations reinforce the need to do
these procedures accurately, and the same holds true for the various control measures.
Besides the research works, the project is investing in capacity building courses for
technicians and farmers for monitoring, correct identification and elimination
of the canker from the orchards, through events held in the states of Rio
GrandedoSul, SantaCatarinaandParaná. Courses for agronom-
ic engineerswerealsoheld, withaneyeon thePhytos-
anitaryCertificateof Origin (PCO).
work include the Federal University in Rio
Grande do Sul (Ufrgs), the Agricultural Nu-
clear Center (Cena/SP) and the Santa Cata-
rina State Rural Extension and Agricultur-
al Research Company (Epagri). Besides the
physical base at the Experiment Station in
Vacaria (RS), the Bluefly Center shal have
three support nuclei, in Pelotas (RS), Por-
to Alegre (RS) and São Joaquim (SC), in
order to broaden the initiative’s reach,
says Mauro Zanus, chief-executive at
Embrapa Grape andWine.
At his visit, Blairo Maggi, besides
assuring the farmers of no imports of
apples from China, for phytosanitary
questions, he earmarked more than
R$ 500 thousand to put the center into
operation, totaling R$ 2 million grant-
ed by the federal government. In April
2017, Moisés Lopes de Albuquerque, ex-
ecutive director at the ABPM, and sena-
tor Ana Amélia Lemos discussed the mat-
ter in Brasília, and in early May the rest of
the fund was liberated, which will be used
for concluding the basic structure of the
Bluefly Laboratory.
