GROPRO is producing biological crop protection products and helping Egyptian potato growers in achieving an effective production ecosystem
Egyptian agriculture represents about 12 per cent of GDP, valued around US$250bn, which includes various fields and cash crops. Being mostly a plain lifeless desert, Egypt is currently the biggest supplier of potatoes to the EU. Surprisingly, all these results have been achieved with low inputs usage - the average annual consumption of pesticides there much lower than the international average.
According to GROPRO, Egypt is turning deserts into agricultural lands using drip irrigation and new agri technologies. Annual production of fruits and vegetables in Egypt was about 35 million tons in 2018 (FAO). Among vegetables, tomato, onions, and potatoes are the leaders in production. Egypt is a major exporter of ware potatoes.
Taking into account huge exports of Egyptian crops to the EU, the quality of Egyptian potato becomes the main question; the European market has very strong regulation about the usage of chemicals for food products. Despite rapidly growing interest, biopesticides currently are not widely used in Egypt.
“Talking about main issues for crop protection, we have learned that the main problems in Egypt are the following: mite, soft body insects, nematodes, whitefly, grey mold (grapes, strawberry), powdery mildew, etc,” stated the company.
GROPRO products helped in solving these issues in the Egyptian environment
Some of the most suitable products of GROPRO products for Egypian potato producers include:
Vigilance Nematicide: To protect roots and add no stress to the whole plant. Trials show that potato plants treated with Vigilance are visibly healthier above the ground and have no evidence of stress after treatments.
Reckoning: It is a control and preventive material that is highly effective for control of fusarium, bacterial rot, and many other bacteria-based diseases that affect potatoes.
Wrath: It was built to control all soft body insects. Wrath has a high efficacy on leafhopper, aphids, psyllids, and whitefly. As with all GROPRO control materials Wrath is MRL exempt and has a zero PHI. This allows the potato growers the opportunity to spray when they need not before. Wrath works on eggs, nymphs, and adults providing a total life cycle control.
