TEC creates technology that attacks diseases in crops

By IDeas trademarks & patents

After 10 years of research, the Biocontrol Laboratory, of the Center for Research in Biotechnology (CIB) of the Costa Rica Institute of Technology (TEC), managed to create a technology capable of improving biologist inputs that attack diseases in crops.

It is a concentrate based on mushrooms, 60% more effective than current products available on the market. The main objective of this technology is to reduce the amount of agrochemicals that farmers use and that in the end become a pollution problem for the environment, farmers and consumers.

According Jaime Brenes, one of the engineers behind the invention, with 500 grams of the formula created by TEC scientists it is possible to attack diseases in one hectare of land.“Currently a farmer must buy up to 4 kilos of product. And now we are achieving the same result with only 500 grams!”, Brenes said.

How does it work?

Once the product has been applied in the field, the beneficial fungi -called biocontroller microorganisms- become activated and begin to reproduce, attacking the harmful fungi.

"This means that the farmer does not have to use so many agrochemicals to take care of his crops and, in addition, it does not generate pollution in the soils or in his products," Brenes added.