Santa Catarina will have another onion harvest with expressive performance

With 33% of the country's production, Santa Catarina stands out as the largest national onion producer. To maintain excellence and leadership in the sector, producers concentrate their efforts using the best production practices and advanced technologies. Despite climate and market challenges, such as high production costs, everything indicates that this harvest will have an impressive performance.

According to the Epagri Agricultural Bulletin, released in December 2022, crop development, in general, is considered good. Estimates for the 2022/2023 harvest point to a harvest of 514.715 thousand tons in the state.

The president of the Federation of Agriculture and Livestock of the State of Santa Catarina, of the National Rural Learning Service (Sistema Faesc/Senar-SC) and vice-president of finance of the Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock of Brazil (CNA), José Zeferino Pedrozo, recognizes the important potential of Santa Catarina in onion production and emphasizes that advances result from producers' commitment to innovation.

The leader highlights that onions are one of the main vegetables with significant economic importance in the state and throughout the country. “The production systems are varied and innovative, the production chain is well structured and has the support of entities, agencies, financial agents, research institutions, among others, which are essential for strengthening the sector’s businesses.”

Epagri's rural extension agent, Daniel Schmitt, highlights that the production area in Santa Catarina has fluctuated very little in the last 10 years and has remained at around 17.500 hectares. The Ituporanga microregion is the one with the highest production in the state, with 8.198 hectares, responsible for 46,51% of the planted area, followed by the Tabuleiro microregion, located in the Greater Florianópolis mesoregion, with 3.180 hectares, equivalent to 18,04. XNUMX% of the area.

The Joaçaba microregion occupies third place, with 1.832ha, or 10,39%, and the Rio do Sul microregion, with 1.545 hectares, meaning 8,76% of the planted area in the state. The other micro-regions (Tijucas, Canoinhas and Campos de Lages) total 2.870 hectares, making up 16,83% of the planted area.

The president of the Ituporanga Rural Union, Arny Mohr, highlights that production is fundamental to the economic movement of the municipality, recognized as the national onion capital. “Our expectations for the 2022/2023 harvest include increased productivity and the availability of a product with excellent quality to the market. Among the important characteristics of Santa Catarina onions is the fact that they are recognized in the national market for having a redder color and thicker skin.”

FAESC/SENAR-SC System Support

One of the actions that the Faesc/Senar-SC System offers to ceboliculturists is the Technical and Management Assistance Program (ATeG) in the vegetable growing area. In this way, the producer has a model of technological adaptation associated with management consultancy, which prioritizes the management of the activity efficiently and allows effective changes to be achieved in the environment of rural companies.

Another System initiative that contributes to the segment is the Campo Futuro Project, which aims to raise crop production costs. Carried out in partnership with CNA, universities and research centers, information is collected through panels organized in the main producing regions, in municipalities with a significant share in the national production of each product.

The objective is to combine producer training with the generation of information for cost management, price risks and production management, in addition to collecting subsidies to guide the actions of Senar/SC and CNA in seeking public policies for the sector, among other benefits.

Senar/SC also provides numerous short-term training courses, offers courses on the new Distance Education Portal ( eadsc.senar.com.br/), technical courses, among other solutions that contribute to this and other production chains.

Consolidation of labor laws

In 2022, Faesc and the Federation of Agricultural Workers of SC (Fetaesc) signed the collective labor agreement to govern onion cultivation 2022/2024.

The convention establishes that, from June 1, 2022, the minimum salary for workers in temperate fruit crops is R$1.416,00.

The act was signed by presidents José Zeferino Pedrozo (Faesc) and José Walter Dresch (Fetaesc) and benefits all workers who currently carry out the activities assigned to the professional category. The president of the Rural Union of Ituporanga, Arny Mohr, the president of the Rural Union of Alfredo Wagner, Pedro Menezes, and the president of the Rural Union of Imbuia, Luiz Arnold Neto, among other leaders, also participated in the moment.

According to Pedrozo, the document considered the peculiarities of the segment, such as the services necessary for the culture, the production systems, the insufficiency of local labor, local customs and techniques, the peculiarities of the cultures, the variation in maturation of the product according to the climate, the relief, among other aspects. The term is valid until May 31, 2024.