On the 3rd of August 2022, InnovPlantProtect (InPP) was featured on RTP 1’s national television program, “Portugal em Direto”.
RTP 1 issued a Special Report, carried out by journalist Teresa Marques, which disclosed the solution that our team has developed to inhibit the growth of Erwinia amylovora, a destructive bacterial pathogen which causes fire blight, a disease that affects Rocha pear and apple orchards in Portugal and has compromised the production of these crops.
“Due to climate change, infection levels [by Erwinia amylovora, a destructive bacterial pathogen] are increasing every year and, from the moment you have a crop with bacterial fire, you have to cut down the apple or pear tree, and this has very serious consequences for farmers”, explains Cristina Azevedo, director of New Biopesticides Department at InPP.
The work carried out by our researchers and their strong commitment have had promising results, as evidenced in this report and in the statements of Cristina Azevedo, Margarida Basaloco, and João Carréu, researchers at InPP.
For Pedro Fevereiro, executive director at InPP, “these new products are more sustainable and allow to protect crops from new pests and diseases that are appearing due to climate change” and the objective is that the various partners that constitute CoLAB (companies, research institutes, state laboratories, municipalities and producer associations) “collaborate to develop products that can be taken to a level that later, with the help of companies, can be placed on the market”.
In this report, you will discover more about the first provisional patent application submitted by the InPP’s team, on the 21st of July 2022.
The report is available on RTP Play, starting at 22:53.