Cotton planting in Tocantins is authorized from the 21st

The period of the cotton sanitary void ends next Monday, 20th, with this, the Agricultural Defense Agency (Adapec), communicates to cotton farmers that the crop planting window will open on Tuesday, 21st and will continue until January 15th for the first harvest (dryland) and for areas planted from January 15th (off-season cotton) will continue until March 15th of each year.

The sanitary void began on September 20th, and according to the technical responsible for the State Cotton Boll Weevil Control Program, Cleovan Barbosa, the objective of the void for this crop was to prevent and control the boll weevil, the main pest that attacks cotton. “During the sanitary vacuum, Adapec monitored the areas that cultivated cotton, in order to ensure that there was no presence of plants with phytosanitary risks in the field, breaking the production cycle to prevent pests such as the boll weevil from gaining strength in crops,” said Cleovan Barbosa.

Adapec emphasizes that cotton farmers must carry out the mandatory registration of producing properties with the Agency's office in the municipality where the crop is cultivated by January 15th for first harvest cotton and by March 15th for second harvest cotton, as established by legislation.

Data

In the 2022/2023 harvest, a planting area of ​​6.300 hectares distributed between the municipalities of Mateiros, Dianópolis, Campos Lindos and Tocantinia was registered with Adapec.

Cotton boll weevil

Adults are gray or brown beetles, 3 mm to 7 mm long. It infests cotton crops from the beginning of flower buds until harvest, and can have 4 to 6 generations in a crop cycle and, if not controlled, can cause losses of up to 70% of production.