Mitigating Pesticide Residues in Latin America Using Biopesticides – STDF Project 753

The Minor Use Foundation is supporting a Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF) project in Latin America and the Caribbean with the aim of improving compliance with Codex pesticide maximum residue limits (MRLs) and facilitating agricultural trade. STDF Project 753 – Mitigating Pesticide Residues in Latin America Using Biopesticides – promotes the use of biopesticides and integrated pest management practices to reduce pesticide residues on crops exported from the Americas, ensuring growers have access to key export markets.

Training Center

A key component of the project includes the Regional Center of Excellence for Latin America and the Caribbean in Pesticide Sciences (CECP) at the National University in Colombia, which the Foundation helped establish and continues to support. The Center of Excellence launched in 2023 and holds annual trainings on field trials under Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and pesticide residue analysis under Good Laboratory Practices (GLP).

Field Trials & Training

The Foundation is also closely involved in the residue field trials component of the Project 753. The trials are critical for developing residue data as well as improving knowledge on data interpretation.

Argentina

In collaboration with Estación Experimental Agroindustrial Obispo Colombres, Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria (INTA), and the University of Buenos Aires, the Foundation provided GLP training for the group that will be conducting laboratory trials to study the control of black spot on lemon with the fungicide azoxystrobin. The last application of this will be replaced by the biopesticide B. subtilis.

Colombia

The Foundation is working with Avance Pasifloras, a passionfruit grower organization in Colombia, on field trials to control scale/mealy bug outbreaks. Avance Pasifloras has supported Project 753 since the inception and is participating in field trials for pesticide mitigation. They also participate in the Tropical Fruit Group, a Foundation initiative that focuses on empowering farmers to improve crop quality, meet international trade standards, and secure better market prices.

Learn more about Avance Pasifloras and their role in Project 753 by watching the video below or read an interview with Sergio Lloreda, president of Avance Pasifloras.

Peru

SENASA Peru officials from the laboratory were trained in GLP by Dr. Wayne Jian, professor from the Michigan State University. They also started field trials on tangerine to mitigate the use of carbendazim by replacing the last application with B. subtilis to control gray mold. 

Costa Rica and Ecuador

In collaboration with Phytosanitary State Services (SFE) and Agrocalidad respectively, through the STDF project, government officials from these institutions were trained in Costa Rica in laboratory GLP.

Costa Rica will be working on mealybugs in pineapple and Ecuador on black sigatoka in banana to mitigate the insecticide diazinon and the fungicide difenoconazole with biopesticide formulations based on garlic and chili extracts, and B. subtilis.

Meetings

Dominican Republic

A group of experts traveled to the Dominican Republic to meet with government officials, growers, researchers and stakeholders. Several talks were held on the topics of pesticide residues definitions and standards and biopesticides regulatory harmonization. More than half of the attendees were women.

More About STDF Project 753

Other components of the project include support for developing harmonized regulations on biopesticides at the regional level, development of a regional strategy to improve the supply of plant protection products for minor crops, and the creation of a communication program to promote the use of biopesticides among farmers.

The project is being implemented over a three-year period in 12 countries including: Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay, and Peru.

The project focuses on five outputs that include:

1. Training;
2. Regulatory harmonization;
3. Pesticide residue mitigation field and laboratory trials;
4. Plant protection products for minor crops; and
5. Extension.

The project is managed by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) with the support of the Minor Use Foundation, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Interregional Research Project No. 4 (IR-4), the National University of Colombia (UNAL), the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), and the University of Costa Rica. Private sector partners include AgAligned Global, CropLife, Avance Pasiflora, Bioprotección Global, and the Colombian Association of Bioinputs (Asobiocol).