Why South America Is an ‘Ideal Hub’ for Biopesticide Innovation

AgriBusiness Global
2024.04.19

With the global push towards sustainable agriculture, the biopesticide market is experiencing explosive growth. Brazil is at the forefront of this expansion, with its biopesticide market expected to continue maintaining a rapid pace. As an organization that is focused on building more sustainable agriculture for future generations and developing natural crop protection solutions based on the potential of micropeptides, Micropep is looking to strengthen its investment in the country and is closely following developments in Latin America to explore the untapped opportunities there.

South America is well-positioned to lead the charge for new biopesticides. The region has such a rich biodiversity that provides a treasure trove of potential bioactive components. In fact, a recent Kynetec report reflects just how much potential there is in the region. The total value of the crop protection market in Brazil increased by more than 70% over the past two years. This can mainly be attributed to price increases, especially of non-selective herbicides. The research also found that soybeans are the largest crop in the country, accounting for 52% of the cultivated area last year.

Furthermore, more than 70% of the market value of biological pesticides is in bionematicides, with soybean and sugarcane as key crops, and bioinsecticides, with corn as the key crop. Even though the Kynetec report indicates biologicals have a small 4% share in value terms at a farm level, there is a positive to this. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 38% over the last five years in biologicals significantly outpaces the 12% CAGR of traditional crop protection products over the same period.

Read more here.