The expectation for this year's cotton crop in Rondônia is the best in history.
When the area exceeds 10,000 hectares, productivity must be double that of when the area exceeded 20,000 hectares.
The expectation is that around 45 thousand tons of cotton will be harvested in half of the area planted 28 years ago.
Even with the challenges faced since January, the planting season, experts recognize that the expectation of harvest in the state exceeds that of other regions.
“Today, when we look at the general panorama, Rondônia will end with a higher expectation than other regions of the country, such as Mato Grosso. Of course, in less expressiveness, here we suffered less from the weather that we had in general”, explained agronomist Fabrício Pereira.
In January of this year, harvest time, the expectation was not so encouraging.
According to agronomist Laydson Fernandes, the delay in planting soya and climate change were factors that discouraged production.
“This harvest, due to the delay in planting soybeans, ended up interfering with the planting of cotton this year. We had the weather conditions, which in the first three months had a great excess of rain, and then this rain cut off throughout the development of the crop, thus resulting in a lower delivery of varieties, of the crop itself”, he explains.
Vicente Gondin, a researcher at Embrapa, revealed that since 1993, the company has been working with programs to improve the cotton crop.
During this period, several materials were tested in experimental fields.
“Evolution is constant. We have to always look for this potential with materials adapted to each of these regions”, said Vicente.
In 1994, Vilhena/RO had 24 thousand hectares of planted cotton and produced an average of 24 thousand tons.
Currently, 10 thousand hectares have been destined for the product and even with less than half of the planted area, production will be the largest in history, around 45 thousand tons of cotton.
And what is the fate of so much cotton? According to agronomist Fabrício Pereira, the international market is the most targeted.
“In Rondonia, 100% of the plume is exported. The export market is more viable. We follow the farmers doing more interesting business abroad. Then it goes to the whole world, mainly the Asian market, which stands out annually. The issue of the seed, it is all on the domestic market with livestock, in the matter of animal feed and nutrition”, he explained.
Sources: g1.globo.com
