Nichino Europe has acquired all intellectual property rights for TEMAP from Belgian crop-protection innovator Bi-PA across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), deepening a longstanding partnership as the companies move to accelerate the availability of the bio-fungicide to growers across the region.
The agreement gives Nichino Europe control of TEMAP intellectual property in the EMEA market while establishing a framework for continued cooperation with Bi-PA. For Nichino Europe, the transaction expands its crop-protection portfolio with a differentiated technology aimed at supporting plant health and more sustainable disease-management programmes.
TEMAP, based on choline pelargonate, is a patented bio-fungicide developed by Bi-PA for broad-spectrum fungal disease control. Development work by the Belgian company has demonstrated preventive, eradicative and early curative activity against a wide range of fungal diseases. Bi-PA describes TEMAP as a contact fungicide that can also be used in programmes with other fungicides and in tank-mix combinations with systemic products.
The technology works by disrupting fungal cell membranes, affecting both spores and mycelium and leading to cell lysis. According to Bi-PA, this prevents germination and stops the spread of pathogens while offering a low environmental impact and low risk of resistance occurrence.
TEMAP also adds another option to integrated disease-management and resistance-management programmes. The recent classification of choline pelargonate in the FRAC BM 03 group further strengthens its positioning as a tool for growers seeking to manage resistance development.
The product has demonstrated efficacy across several crops and diseases. Bi-PA says trials have shown particularly strong performance in rice, cereals, bananas, fruits and vegetables, including activity against sheath blight and blast in rice, Septoria tritici in wheat, black Sigatoka in banana and apple scab.
The acquisition comes as Nichino Group seeks to expand the use of bioresources and develop new sources of revenue while strengthening the competitiveness of its crop-protection business. The company has increasingly focused on technologies that can complement conventional crop-protection chemistry and support more sustainable agricultural production.
“We are excited to add TEMAP, a product we have successfully trialled for several years, to our portfolio which will expand our offering of differentiated and efficient technologies to support plant health,” said Manfred Hilweg, Managing Director of Nichino Europe.
For Bi-PA, the agreement represents a route to scale an internally developed technology through Nichino Europe’s regulatory, commercial and market capabilities. Bi-PA said TEMAP is among the most important innovations it has developed in recent years and reflects its focus on bringing novel and sustainable crop-protection solutions to growers.
“TEMAP is one of the most important innovations developed by Bi-PA in recent years, reflecting our commitment to bringing novel and sustainable crop protection solutions to the market. We are delighted to partner with Nichino Europe, whose expertise, market presence, and long-term vision make them the ideal organization to unlock the full potential of TEMAP across the EMEA region. Together, we can accelerate the availability of this innovative fungicide and deliver tangible value to growers,” said Johan De Saegher, CEO of Bi-PA.
The partnership builds on several years of collaboration between the two companies, with Nichino Europe having trialled TEMAP before taking ownership of its EMEA intellectual property rights. The companies will continue to work together as the product moves toward wider availability in the region.
For growers, the strategic importance of TEMAP lies not only in its disease-control spectrum but also in its potential role within integrated crop-protection programmes. Bi-PA’s development work positions the product as a complementary technology that can be used alongside other fungicides, giving growers another tool as resistance management becomes an increasingly important part of crop-protection strategies.
Nichino Europe’s acquisition therefore goes beyond adding another product to its catalogue. It gives the company ownership of a patented biological fungicide across a large and diverse agricultural market, while strengthening its relationship with a specialist developer of biological and alternative crop-protection technologies.
As regulatory pressure, resistance concerns and demand for more sustainable crop-protection solutions reshape the European market, Nichino Europe and Bi-PA are betting that technologies combining efficacy with differentiated modes of action can play a larger role in the next generation of crop protection.
