PROFILE
José Otavio Menten is the finan-
cial director of the Scientific Coun-
cil for Sustainable Agriculture (SCSA)
and vice-president of Brazilian Asso-
ciation of Higher Agricultural Educa-
tion (Abeas). With a degree in agro-
nomic engineering, hehas amaster’s
degree and a PhD in Agronomy, and
isapost-doctoralscholarwhoholdsa
degree in Pest Management and Bio-
technology. He is also associate pro-
fessor at the Luiz de Queiroz College
of Agriculture (Esalq) of University of
São Paulo (USP). Besides his consoli-
dated work in Brazil, he has already
worked in Colombia, Holland, Den-
mark, Austria, Venezuela andBritain.
During his career, he was given eight
awards and published 182 scientific
articles, and has written four books
and 11 chapters inbooks.
In addition to his duties, he is also
a member of the Higher Agribusiness
Council (Cosag), of the São Paulo Sta-
te Industry Federation (Fiesp). He was
equally the executive director of the
National Vegetable Surveillance Asso-
ciation (Andef) and occupied public
positions. As researcher, he worked
jointlywithabignumberoforganisms.
much research and strict quality assess-
ments”, he ponders. It requires about 12
years of studies and an investment of ap-
proximately US$ 250 million for a new sub-
stance to be considered fit for use.
Before being liberated for the farmers,
Menten explains that the products need to
be registered in the regulation organs, in our
case, in the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock
and Food Supply (Mapa), National Health
Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) and the Brazil-
ian Institute of the Environment and Renew-
ableNaturalResources(Ibama),whichfollow
internationalprotocolsandrequireaboutfive
years of studies by specialists. “This proce-
dureisresponsibleforreducing by90%,over
the past 40 years, the dosages of the phyto-
sanitary products used in Brazil, whilst acute
toxicitywasreducedby160times”,hesays.In
theopinionof the specialist, in spiteof all the
quality in use, there is need to adopt best ag-
ricultural practices on the farms, through ed-
ucational and training initiatives.
“To comply strictly with the agronom-
ic prescription, particularly with regard to
the doses to be utilized and respect for the
safety interval, are fundamental procedures
if contaminations are to be avoided”, he ex-
plains. “This has contributed towards the
appropriate quality of the food available to
the population, and it is confirmed through
a monitoring process of the Maximum Resi-
due Limit (MRL)”. In November 2016, Anvisa
published the report on the Pesticide Resi-
due Analysis Program in Food (Para, in the
Portuguese acronym), which analyzed res-
idues in 12,051 samples of 25 vastly con-
sumed food items – collected from 2013 to
2015, in 27 States and the Federal District.
The result showed that 99% of the samples
were free of residues that represent a risk to
consumers’ health.
Adoptionofbestpractices
wasvitalforagribusiness
toevolvetosuchanextent
Divulgação
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