New crop protection range addresses soil health, pest pressure and yield performance

Durrant Pate/Contributor

Jamaica’s leading agricultural materials supplier, H&L Agro Retail & Wholesale, has introduced six new crop protection products to the Jamaican market in partnership with Pilarquim Corp, a Taiwan-based, Canadian-headquartered multinational biotechnology and agrochemical company. 

The five new products are Pilarta, Pilaroil, Pilarzeb, Pilartep, Pilarpro and Pilarzox, which address weed, pest and disease pressures most acute for Jamaican farmers, as they work to restore production. The launch of these products comes as Jamaica’s agricultural sector works to recover from Hurricane Melissa, which caused an estimated J$29.5 billion in losses across the sector, affecting more than 70,000 farmers. 

Each product in the Pilarquim range has been selected to address one or more of these conditions directly. Pilarquim’s product portfolio is built for agricultural markets where heat, humidity and rainfall variability create conditions that differ sharply from temperate environments.

Farmers replanting after a major storm face compounding pressures: soil structure disrupted by flooding, fungal and bacterial disease risk running high, and pest populations surging as crops re-establish. 

Products detail

·      Pilarta is a contact and systemic herbicide for broad-spectrum weed control, reducing the labour burden of re-establishing crops on disturbed land. 

·      Pilaroil is a horticultural spray oil that controls scale insects, mites and whitefly, pests that spread rapidly across vegetable and tree crop farms in warm, humid conditions.

·      Pilarzeb is a contact fungicide with protective action against early blight, downy mildew and a wide range of other fungal diseases. 

·      Pilartep is a systemic insecticide with residual activity, effective against aphids, thrips and leaf miners across vegetable and root crop lines.

·      Pilarpro is a broad-spectrum insecticide targeting caterpillar and beetle pressure across a range of crops. 

·      Pilarzox is a systemic fungicide with both protective and curative action, effective before disease becomes visible and after the first signs appear.

Islandwide stocking

The full Pilarquim range is now stocked across H&L Agro’s retail network island-wide while the company’s agronomy team can advise on product selection, application timing and integrated pest management programmes for farmers looking to incorporate the new inputs into their production cycles. 

H&L Agro works with distributors who have direct field relationships with farmers, recognising that product performance depends as much on correct application as on formulation quality. H&L Agro’s agronomy team will provide ongoing technical guidance to farmers adopting the new range. 

For General Manager of H&L Agro Retail & Wholesale, Odean Bradshaw, “our farmers need inputs they can count on, and Pilarquim delivers exactly that. This is a range tested and proven in tropical conditions that gives every farmer, whether in Clarendon, St Elizabeth or Portland, access to the same quality of crop protection and the same level of technical support.”

For her part, Judy Fung, Business Manager of Pilarquim Corp, “Jamaica is a market we have approached with careful preparation. The country’s farming community is both experienced and highly dedicated, and they deserve solutions that reflect that level of commitment. We are confident that the Pilarquim range will deliver measurable improvements in crop protection and yield for Jamaican farmers, while also supporting more efficient and sustainable production practices.” 

H&L Agro Retail & Wholesale is the agricultural supplies division of Hardware & Lumber Limited, serving farmers, growers and agro-processors island-wide with a full range of inputs, tools, crop protection products and technical field support, while Pilarquim Corp is committed to developing and distributing science-backed crop protection and yield enhancement products for agricultural markets across the Caribbean and Latin America.