Productivity, “premium” quality and the prospect of increasing area mark the beginning of the cotton harvest in Bahia

Expected to accelerate, in the middle of this month, the cotton harvest began on May 28th in Bahia. In the 2020/2021 harvest, the state planted 266.662 hectares of the commodity, and is the leader of Matopiba, a region that also encompasses the cerrado areas of Maranhão, Tocantins and Piauí, and which accounted for, in total, 305.351 hectares in the harvest in course. The expected harvest in the state is approximately 520.363 tons, and 587.067 in the Matopiba region.

According to data released at the technical meeting to evaluate the harvest, promoted by the Brazilian Association of Cotton Producers (Abrapa) and held online on Tuesday morning (08/06), cotton lint production should be 13% lower this year. cycle, and the area shrank by 15%. This reduction is explained by the greater relative profitability of soybeans and corn, which guarantee greater liquidity, with lower production costs, even though lint prices, today, at US$0,86 per pound, are at a level considered very good. . At planting time, cotton was priced at around US$0,60, which left soybeans and corn with an even greater advantage. The Bahian harvest figures were presented at the meeting by the coordinator of Abapa's Phytosanitary Program, Antonio Carlos Araújo.

“A reduction in area and production, when looked at without a situational analysis, may seem like a bad thing. But, in the case of Brazilian cotton, and especially in Bahia, this reflects the sustainability and maturity of our production matrix, which is varied and balanced depending on the market. Furthermore, Bahia only has one harvest, which makes the planting decision even more accurate”, says the president of Abapa, Luiz Carlos Bergamaschi. He predicts an estimated growth of 5% in the cotton area for 2021/2022.

Today, the Abapa Fiber Analysis Center, located in Luís Eduardo Magalhães, processed the first samples of cotton harvested in this harvest and the initial results of the HVI classification already attest to what technicians call the “premium quality” of the product. This quality was the result of a favorable climate, marked by regular rains, distributed over five months – ending in May –, which points to a productivity 2% higher than that achieved in the last harvest, expected to reach 317,3 arrobas per hectare of cotton boll or 1951,4 kilos per hectare of cotton lint. “Another excellent harvest that the state should achieve”, concludes Bergamaschi.