What are pests?

Pests are any species, breed or biotype of plant, animal or pathogenic agent that damages plants or plant products.

What are quarantine pests?

Quarantine pests are organisms that have potential economic importance for areas where they are either not present yet or are present but not widely distributed and under official control. Therefore, such pests are subject to official control, either through measures aimed at preventing their entry in the country or, if they are already present in a given area, phytosanitary measures to enable their eradication and control with the purpose of avoiding their dispersion. These pests can be insects, mites, nematodes, fungi, bacteria, phytoplasma, viruses, viroids, infesting plants and parasites.

How are quarantine pests classified?

Absent quarantine pests are those that have not been officially reported in the country, while the present quarantine pests are the ones that already occur within the domestic territory, but have restricted distribution and are under official control.

What impacts can the introduction of a quarantine pest cause?

In general, the introduction of quarantine pests in a region, without the due phytosanitary measures to ensure containment and management, can cause social, ecological and economic impacts. Potential resulting problems include reduced yield; loss of markets or increased export costs due to imposition of phytosanitary (domestic and international) barriers; increased expenses with control; impact on the IPM programs; environmental and food contamination by an increased number of agrochemical applications; unemployment due to the elimination or reduction of a given crop in a region; compromise of important food sources for the population; loss of national biodiversity; and expenses with programs for official control or containment measures.

Who establishes the list of quarantine pests that are absent and present in Brazil?

The lists are published as a Normative Instruction (IN) from the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply (Mapa).

Currently, how many quarantine pests pose a risk of entering Brazil?

In 2018, about 600 species or genera were considered absent pests. Out of these, dozens have already been reported in other South American countries and in Trinidad and Tobago, with large likelihood of entering Brazil.

Which quarantine pests are already present in the country?

According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply (Mapa), nowadays Brazil has 12 quarantine pests that are considered to be present. They are:

• Carambola fruit fly, Bactrocera carambolae, present in Amapá since 1996 and in Roraima since 2010.
• Black Sigatoka, Mycosphaerella fijiensis, present in Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Pará, Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, Tocantins, Maranhão and Rio de Janeiro, Rondônia, Roraima, Santa Catarina and São Paulo.
• Citrus hindu mite, Schizotetranychus hindustanicus, detected in Roraima in 2008.
• Mango weevil, Sternochetus mangiferae, detected in Rio de Janeiro in 2017.
• Acerola weevil, Anthonomus tomentosus, reported in Roraima in 2014.
• Infesting plant Amaranthus palmeri, reported in Mato Grosso.
• Citrus black spot, Guignardia citricarpa, reported in Amazonas, Espírito Santo, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, São Paulo, Bahia, Goiás and Rondônia.
• HLB, Candidatus Liberibacter spp., reported in Minas Gerais, Paraná and São Paulo.
• Citrus canker, Xanthomonas citri susp. citri, present in Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, Roraima, Santa Catarina, São Paulo, Ceará and Maranhão.
• Grapevine bacterial canker, Xanthomonas campestris pv. viticola, reported in Bahia, Ceará, Pernambuco and Roraima.
• Nectria canker, Neonectria galligena (=Nectria galligena), reported in Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina.
• Moko disease, Ralstonia solanacearum race 2, present in Amapá, Amazonas, Pará, Rondônia, Roraima and Sergipe.

How does a quarantine pest enter the domestic territory?

The entry of pests in Brazil can occur through the transit of people, animals and goods, through the transportation of infested plants, fruits or seeds. One of the facilitating factors is the vast extension of the Brazilian border (15,791 km), with few outposts of the International Agricultural Survaillance System (VIGIAGRO), of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (Mapa).

The improved infrastructure in ports, airports, roads, in recent years, especially North of the country, has also favored the movement of people in the borders. Many places that were once inaccessible now undergo an intense flow of people, thus increasing the risk of pest dissemination.

What is done to prevent the entry and spread of quarantine pests?

The entry of pests in Brazil is prevented through thehe Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply (Mapa) International Agricultural Surveillance System (VIGIAGRO)'s inspection and control of animals, vegetables, inputs, products of animal and plant origin, wood packaging and supports that are imported by or in international transit through Brazil. Vigiagro is currently composed by 111 Services (SVAs) and Agricultural Surveillance Units (Uvagros), located in ports, airports, border checkpoints and customs.

Importing any animal or plant and their products, byproducts and parts can only be done the inspection, quality control and risk analysis criteria and procedures established by Mapa are met. In addition, phytosanitary warnings and contingency plans are mechanisms used in plant health defense to prevent or reduce the possibility of entry of material with pests in the country.

The measures used are as follows:

• Monitoring and establishment of sentinel plantations for the early detection of occasional pest entry.
• Control of the transit of plants and products from areas infected with the pest.
• Quarantine phytosanitary treatment with the goal of ensuring that the plants, plant parts and plant products, as well as respective packaging and wooden crates, in export and import operations are free of pests.
• Requirement of plant health certificates for the exchange of plants and byproducts, like the Phytosanitary Certificate of Origin - CFO or the Consolidated Phytosanitary Certificate of Origin - CFOC.
• Requirement of Plant Transit Permit, which is the phytosanitary document issued to follow the transit departure of plants, plant parts or products of plant origin, according to the rules of plant sanitary defense, and to inform, according to the case, the issue of a Phytosanitary Certificate - CF and of the Re-export Phytosanitary Certificate - CFR, with an additional declaration from Mapa.
• Phytosanitary education, which is actions carried out by phytosanitary defense agencies to train farmers, technicians and the population in general on quarantine pests.

What are phytosanitary alerts, eradication plans and contingency plans?

Phytosanitary alerts, eradication plans and contingency plans are mechanisms elaborated by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply (Mapa) that contain guidelines and phytosanitary measures that aim to prevent or reduce the possibility of entry and dispersion of quarantine pests in the country and, in some cases, their eradication.

An example of the importance of these mechanisms is what happened with Cydia pomonella, an insect that attacks mostly apples, considered a pest that was present in the country from 1991 to 2014. Mapa composed a working group to define the implementation of a suppression program, later replaced by a program of eradication of host plants. In May 2014, after the eradication of C. pomonella was officially declared in Brazil, the program was replaced by a contingency plan, introduced in October 2015. Since September 2014, C. pomonella has the status of absent quarantine pest, and it is the only case of eradication of an insect pest in Brazil.

What do farmers have to do if they suspect the presence of a quarantine pest in their property?

Brazilian farmers should contact the Superintendência Federal de Agricultura of their state, which will adopt the procedures to collect samples in the plantation and will submit them for testing in Mapa's accredited laboratories, under the responsibility of the Ministry's Department of Plant Health (DSV).

The contacts for Mapa's Ombudsman service in Brasilia are 0800 704 1995 and ouvidoria@agricultura.gov.br.

How has Embrapa been working on the subject?

The theme 'quarantine pests' is considered urgent and necessary for national security, as the presence and dissemination of an exotic pest can compromise the country's agriculture. Within the scope of Embrapa's mission to create research, development and innovation solutions for the sustainability of agriculture for the benefit of Brazilian society, throughout its trajectory it has prioritized technical and scientific efforts to prevent the entry, dissemination and impacts of such pests.

Its work is focused on the development of research and technology transfer activities in the areas of pest management, territorial intelligence, classic biological control (introduction of exotic biological control agents that are specific to quarantine pests that are present and/or are of economic importance), phytosanitary analysis of plant material introduced in quarantine regimens and preventive breeding and genetic improvement.

The Corporation also provides strategic support to public policy by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply (Mapa), anticipating scenarios and solutions, which is why it now has the Quarantine Portfolio.

What is the Quarantine Portfolio?

The portfolios are Embrapa's managerial support tools, structured to organize inter-related projects according to a theme vision, with the purpose of directing, promoting and monitoring the end results to be achieved in each given theme, considering Embrapa's strategic goals. Due to their characteristics – strategic nature and national relevance –, the themes for the portfolios are determined directly by the corporation's strategic tiers and have a corporate character.

The Quarantine Portfolio (Prevention of Quarantine Pest Entry and Management in Brazil) is one of Embrapa's line of work for the theme "Quarantine Pests" and is aimed at elaborating methods and technologies that contribute to reducing the risks of quarantine pest entry, dispersion, economic impacts, developing management and contingency programs in Brazil, and supporting Mapa's public policy.

There is currently a project portfolio that contains about 13 ongoing research projects and studies involving 25 Embrapa research Units, as well as international partners and private consultants.

What are the Quarantine Portfolio's segments of work?

The Quarantine Portfolio's action strategy is concentrated into four main axes: prioritization - establishment of a method that allows one to rank the current list of quarantine pests, giving priority to those that will be the target of detection, containment and/or mitigation actions; detection - fast identification methodologies and techniques to facilitare the early detection of pests; mitigation -  methods and action to minimize the impacts of quarantine pests post-entry and eradicate target pests, and communication and technology transfer - dissemination of knowledge, methodologies and technologies about quarantine pests to the public and private sector.

What is the prioritization of quarantine pests?

In light of the large number of species/genera of absent quarantine pests, the difficulty of establishing plant health defense, research and technology transfer actions will be enormous if different related aspects are not holistically considered. Therefore, Embrapa and the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply (Mapa) Department of Plant Health made joint efforts with their professionals with experience in research, control and field action to introduce a list of 20 priority absent quarantine pests, determining them to be of highest risk for Brazilian agriculture. The action is one of the results of the work of the Quarantine Portfolio, with support from the Plant Health Portfolio.

Which absent quarantine pests were prioritized?

The 20 prioritized absent quarantine pests were:

• African Cassava Mosaic Virus – virus (cassava)
• Anastrepha suspensa – insect (guava)
• Bactrocera dorsalis – insect (fruit trees)
• Boeremia foveata – fungus (potatoes)
• Brevipalpus chilensis – mite (kiwi, grapevine)
• Lethal yellowing disease - phytoplasma (coconut palm)
• Cirsium arvense – weed (wheat, maize, oats, soybeans)
• Cydia pomonella – insect (apple)
• Ditylenchus destructor – nematode (maize, potato)
• Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense Tropical Race 4  - fungus (banana)
• Globodera rostochiensis – nematode (potato)
• Lobesia botrana – insect (grapevine)
• Moniliophthora roreri – fungus (cacao)
• Pantoea stewartii – bacteria (maize)
• Plum Pox Virus – virus (peach, plum)
• Striga spp. – weed (maize, cowpeas)
• Tomato ringspot virus – virus (fruit trees and tomatoes)
• Toxotrypana curvicauda – insect (papaya)
• Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae – bacteria (rice)
• Xylella fastidiosa subsp. fastidiosa – bacteria (grapevine)

How were those pests prioritized?

For the prioritization, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method was used, which enabled the ranking of the a group of pests priorly prioritized by Mapa and Embrapa researchers, according to 20 criteria divided into three major groups: "entry"; "establishment and spread"; and "estimated impact".

To characterize the observation of a pest entry, they considered the distance between the closest location and the Brazilian border, the number of bordering countries where the pest occurs, a general number of countries where it can be found, volume of imports of host material/regulated item, number of imports of host material/regulated item, and number of continents where it already exists.

As for "establishment and spread", they assessed potential of climate adaptation in Brazil, number of hosts, total area of host crops, percentage of microregions with host crops, efficiency of control methods (eradication), estimated extension of annual natural spread and likelihood of anthropic spread.

With regard to estimated impacts, they observed criteria on expected percentage of damage, annual yield of the host crop, number of countries that regulate the pest, number of establishments with the host crop, number of jobs in the crop production chain and potential of contamination by agrochemicals.

Which measures are adopted with regard to prioritized pests?

Contingency plans and improvements to phytosanitary monitoring action are going to be made for the priority pests. In the scope of research activity, the expectation is to foster the development of projects aimed at obtaining technologies to reduce the socioeconomical and environmental risks of pest entry and spread. These technologies can be directed to support diagnosis methods, the mapping of areas at risk of entry, establishment and spread, preventive breeding, classical biological control, among others. Another item of action is the ongoing training and technology transfer for agricultural defense agents and farmers to contribute to absent pest monitoring, identification and preventive management activities.