Biofungicide Production by Solid-State Fermentation as Sustainable Biotechnology for Agroindustrial Waste Management and Fresh Crop Production

Agriculture represents the main source of food for human consumption, and is also a huge economic input. The population growth rate is increasing year by year, thus increasing the demand for food. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that food demand will increase by up to 70% by 2050. Despite the actual food production, 500 million people suffer from malnutrition, and 821 million suffer from hunger (de Araujo et al., 2020). However, the main farmland has been already occupied, so this increase in yield requires that it be done on these lands. One of main problems faced during crop cultivation is pest attacks, which can cause losses of up to 70% when agrochemicals are not applied. It has been reported that almost 67,000 organisms promote crop losses. Nevertheless, the overuse of these chemical compounds to control pests also generates negative impacts, including water and soil contamination, collateral damage to non-targeted organisms, chemical resistance, and chemical residues in food for human consumption (Campos et al., 2019).