Brandt do Brasil assists producers in the citrus belt of São Paulo and Triângulo Mineiro

São Paulo is one of the largest orange producers in Brazil and the world. “This has to do with the history of citrus farming in the state, which began exporting oranges in quantity and with high quality in the 1930s”, informs Antonio Coutinho, technical director of Brandt do Brasil, one of the largest fertilizer suppliers in the world, present in the São Paulo market with technical and commercial support for rural producers.

“Productive at more balanced temperatures, oranges have always had an important place in the São Paulo scene. The largest orange producer in the world, the State of São Paulo accounts for almost 30% of global production! The harvest in São Paulo and the Triângulo Mineiro in 2016/2017 was 245 million boxes of oranges, compared to 69 million boxes in Florida (USA), the second largest producing hub in the world”, explains Coutinho.

Some factors drive fruit production in São Paulo, such as the climate and good soil conditions. But, above all, the infrastructure and persistence of the São Paulo citrus grower make a difference. For the technical director of Brandt, these are the great differences of the State, which has maintained its national and international leadership in fruit production for years. “The proximity to the Port of Santos, the country’s main port and the largest in Latin America, has always been very beneficial for producers and the industry. In addition to the determination, resilience and incessant search of farmers to increase productivity and quality. The fact is also that few regions in the world can achieve high productivity without irrigation. In São Paulo, only 4% of orange groves use irrigation”, explains Antonio Coutinho.

In addition to worrying about changes in the climate and the price of the fruits they sell, citrus producers need to be increasingly able to deal with diseases and pests. “Citrus canker, for example, affects all species and varieties of citrus of commercial importance and its impacts are related to plant defoliation, the depreciation of production quality due to the presence of lesions on fruits, the reduction in production due to premature fall of fruits and the restriction of commercialization of production to areas free of the disease. In orchards affected by CVC, known as “yellowing”, the fruits become hard, small and ripen prematurely, and can lose up to 75% of their weight. Orchard production drops rapidly. As the disease progresses, the fruits become burnt and unfit for sale”, adds Coutinho.

Brandt's headquarters in the United States has invested in research to find ways to protect fruits from greening, the newest and most fearsome threat to orange groves. “We are developing ways to prevent the insect that transmits the disease from reaching plants through camouflage. We focus on solutions that make it difficult for the insect to identify the plant as food”, explains Antonio Coutinho.

The director of Brandt highlights that, in general, the company's foliar nutrition programs have shown excellent results in relation to conventional treatments existing on the Brazilian market. “Especially in citrus farming, we have achieved excellent results with the MANNI-PLEX and SMART lines, both in the so-called orchards in formation – those that have not yet entered production and are growing – and in orchards in production. Two factors are evident: young orchards grow faster with foliar nutrition, as the technology of the MANNI-PLEX B MOLY product contributes to greater fruit setting in adult orchards. It is a product with mobile Boron (B) – the conversion of flowers and fruits depends on this chemical element. As it is a highly mobile Boron, we saw very positive results in relation to the increased conversion rate into flowers and fruits”, explains Coutinho.

According to the Citrus Defense Fund (Fundecitrus), the estimate for the 2018/19 orange harvest in the citrus belt of São Paulo and Triângulo Mineiro (data from May 2018) is 288,29 million boxes (40,8 kg ).