In 10 days of the bean sanitary void, seven rural producers in the Federal District have already been notified for violating the quarantine period.
Until October 20, the territory cannot have live plants of the crop, as a way of breaking the life cycle of the virus that causes the golden mosaic, the Bean gold mosaic virus (BGMV). The disease causes yellowing and deformation of leaves and damage to grains and is transmitted by whiteflies.
Teams from the Department of Agriculture, Supply and Rural Development intensified inspection of production units throughout the DF. The technicians will cover around 3 thousand hectares, on 40 properties.
One of the claims made by rural producers for maintaining bean plants would be the more intense cold this year. According to them, lower temperatures would have prolonged the species' development cycle.
This argument, however, is not enough to avoid notification and the mandatory destruction of live plants, according to the agricultural inspector from the Ministry of Agriculture, Carina Ichida.
“We will analyze the official climatological data to check if there was an unusually cold temperature. If this has occurred, this will be considered in the appeal”, he says.
The inspector reinforces, however, that compliance with the measure is mandatory and was widely publicized among farmers. This is because the choice of grain variety must also consider the period of the sanitary void.
“Those who planned their planting in advance and chose beans with a shorter cycle [around 75 days] had no problem”, he highlights. Normal cycle beans take around 90 days between planting and harvesting.
This was the year in which the department recorded the most notifications for violating the quarantine. “It even surpassed those of the soybean gap”, compares agricultural inspector Adailton Guimarães.
Anyone who fails to comply with the suspension of cultivation is subject to a fine of between R$ 15,000 and R$ 50,000 and is obliged to destroy the beanstalks. Temporary eradication can occur chemically, through the application of herbicides, or mechanically, using machinery to disturb the soil.
The bean sanitary void began to be implemented in the Federal District in 2013, following a demand from rural producers to control golden mosaic. “Cultivation crops were greatly affected by the disease. Since we joined the void, contamination has decreased”, explains Carina.
In case of suspicion of non-compliance with the sanitary void, the Agriculture department must be alerted. Reports can be made by telephone (61) 3051-6422 or via the email address http://www.agricultura.df.gov.br/.
Editing: Paula Oliveira
Source: Agrolink