Abrapa starts a schedule of verification visits to HVI laboratories in six states

With the arrival this Monday (18/09) at the fiber classification laboratory of the Goiana Association of Cotton Producers (Agopa), the Brazilian Association of Cotton Producers (Abrapa) begins the calendar of verification visits to the laboratories that are part of the Standard Brasil HVI (SBRHVI) program. Launched in 2016, the SBRHVI aims to parameterize and guarantee credibility and transparency to the results obtained in cotton classification laboratories that serve Brazilian producers, consequently strengthening the image of the national fiber. At this stage, a total of 12 laboratories and 57 pieces of equipment will be checked in the states of Goiás, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso do Sul, Bahia, Mato Grosso and São Paulo.

 Within the scope of SBRHVI, visits to laboratories are part of the "third pillar", which involves training, guidance, training and service to laboratories participating in the program. The other two pillars are the National Database of Brazilian Cotton Quality and the Brazilian Reference Center for Cotton Analysis (CBRA), which was opened in Brasília in December 2016.

According to Abrapa's Quality program manager, Edson Mizoguchi, this visit schedule is of fundamental importance at this stage of SBRHVI. "This is the pilot harvest: the first since the implementation of CBRA. Our challenge is to harmonize practices in laboratories, and this involves a series of checks and requirements that need to be met. 4,4 analyzes of the checking cotton, which represents around 885 thousand samples from producers. The laboratories are committed to doing their best and I am sure that the visits will be very productive", says Mizoguchi.

Check cotton is the standard samples produced at CBRA, with Brazilian cotton, and distributed to laboratories participating in the program. They are analyzed every 200 classifications per HVI instrument, and the coincidence between the calculated indexes and the standard numbers reveals the good functioning of the equipment.

The Agopa laboratory manager, Rhudson Assolari, considered the result of the visit positive. "There is always an opportunity for improvement. Quality control is something that is never definitively completed. The challenges are renewed and become more complex. From when I started working with analysis, 17 years ago, until today, almost everything has changed. The process is much more professional, the structures have evolved a lot. Therefore, learning has to be constant", he says.