INTACTA RR2 PRO® is the first new soya bean seed technology launched in the South African (SA) industry in 20 years. This ground-breaking technology was launched during an evening event in Johannesburg. At the event, CEO of Bayer SA, Dr Klaus Eckstein, attributed the introduction of this new technology to the statutory soya levy that was introduced in 2019.
Read about soya bean processing.
This end point royalty system was put in place to fund the development of news varieties to make local soya bean farmers more competitive in the international market. The last new soya bean variety was introduced in 2021 with Roundup® Ready (RR) technology. Dr Eckstein said SA farmers have reached a plateau in soya bean yield. Currently, farmers harvest 2,2 to 2,3t/ha.
According to Caio Tosta, customer marketing lead Africa for Bayer Crop, they were able to overcome their plateau harvest of 2,7 ton/ha when INTACTA RR2 PRO® was introduced in Brazil in 2016. Consequently, the harvest increased to 3,6ton/ha. With this new technology, SA growers will be able to compete with the largest growers globally such as Brazil, the United States (US), and Argentina.
Traits of INTACTA RR2 PRO®
Bayer summarises the benefits of INTACTA RR2 PRO® in three pillars: protect, maximise and improve.
The plant is protected because it contains Bt technology that protects it from feeding damage the African bollworm inflicts on soya bean leaves. This also means less insecticide will be needed, which increases profitability and will allow for more beneficial insects. It also addresses the need for producers to produce more with less, becoming more environmentally and economically sustainable.
INTACTA RR2 PRO® will maximise the growing potential of soya beans because it contains new and improved RR technology, which means that input costs for herbicides will be lower. It also improves production due to the precision trait insertion of the glyphosate tolerant genes.
By placing the RR protein in a specific area of the soya bean DNA, yield is improved with plants having greater root biomass as well as more nodes on main stems. – Ursula Human, AgriOrbit
