Embrapa technologies drive growth in garlic production in Brazil

There is no shortage of reasons for celebration for garlic producers in Brazil: static for several years, consumption growth went from 2020 million 30 kg boxes to 10 million in 36. Recent years have also seen an increase in planted area – in six years, the country jumped from 9.500 hectares to approximately 14 thousand hectares. Add to these numbers the issue of productivity, which increased, in the same period, from nine tons to a production close to 15 tons per hectare. 

Still with the predominance of Chinese garlic in 2020 (53%), the perspective is that national garlic will gradually replace imported garlic, and in 2021 it will participate with 44% and 11% of the market - production from the Cerrado and the South, respectively , reducing the volume of imports from China. 

The values ​​were presented by Rafael Corsino, president of the National Association of Garlic Producers - Anapa (entity that represents garlic producers throughout Brazil), and who estimates an even greater growth in the planted area in 2021, mainly in the states of Minas Gerais (6.500 ha), Goiás (3.500 ha) and Rio Grande do Sul (2.200 ha). A growth that he attributes to greater knowledge and adoption of new technologies by producers, and where Embrapa Hortaliças plays a relevant role. “We know how much Embrapa has been collaborating with these advances, as well as the potential that exists for an even greater adoption of technologies, such as the production of virus-free seed garlic, for example”, observes Corsino. 

In this sense, researcher Francisco Vilela, who coordinates the virus-free garlic program at Embrapa Hortaliças, points out that the system of in-house production of virus-free garlic (seed multiplication in anti-aphid screens), initially aimed at small producers , has been gradually adopted by large producers, also interested in reducing the cost of seed garlic. 

“Certainly, the expansion of the use of virus-free seed garlic in producing regions was the main factor behind at least a 30% increase in productivity”, points out the researcher. “In some regions of small farmers it was possible to double productivity with the introduction of virus-free garlic”, highlights Vilela, who also points out other points of advances in cultivation technologies such as more mechanization, modernization of irrigation systems, improvement of the production process vernalization, improved nutrition and phytosanitary management as important to achieve this growth.

New fronts

With the validation of virus-free seed garlic technology, other areas of action are being worked on. One of the examples of these new lines of work concerns viral cleaning and the availability of virus-free cultivars for different producing regions and segments of the production chain.

“The forecast for the next five years is to deliver at least one virus-free cultivar, among those already traditionally used by these segments, or even new cultivars, more productive and with better commercial acceptance than those already known”, says Vilela, for whom The idea “is to serve everything from small farmers in the semi-arid region to the largest and most technologically advanced farmers in the Cerrado region”.