Technicians meet to validate corn zoning for Minas Gerais

Professionals from the agricultural production sector in Minas Gerais met to validate the Agricultural Climate Risk Zoning for the 1st and 2nd corn harvests in the state. More than 100 people attended the meeting online, on June 25, promoted by Embrapa Milho e Sorgo in partnership with two other Units of the company, Embrapa Cerrados and Embrapa Informática Agropecuária.

The general head of Embrapa Milho and Sorgo, Frederico Durães, opened the validation meeting in Minas Gerais and highlighted that Zarc supports public and private initiatives, which integrate other market policies, technological innovations and the legal framework for the performance efficiency and safety of agricultural crops. “The Zarc methodology validation meeting, by agricultural species, is an opportunity for a combination of technical-scientific and production and market knowledge, from the various agents of interest to a region, during an agricultural harvest period”, said Durães .

Zarc Milho data for Minas Gerais was organized by researchers Aryeverton Fortes de Oliveira and José Eduardo Monteiro (Embrapa Informática Agropecuária); Fernando Antônio Macena da Silva (Embrapa Cerrados); Balbino Antônio Evangelista (Embrapa Fisheries and Aquaculture); Daniel Pereira Guimarães and Camilo Lelis de Andrade (Embrapa Milho e Sorgo). Currently, Minas Gerais cultivates 721.900 and 465.100 hectares of corn in the first and second harvest, respectively, according to data from Conab.

“Zarc is a climate risk analysis tool that takes climate variability into account, so it allows you to indicate sowing dates, with lower climate risk for the state’s municipalities. “The objective of this meeting is to validate Zarc for corn 1st and 2nd harvests for the state of Minas Gerais and evaluate possible inconsistencies in the results generated. Because, once validated, the results will be sent to the Ministry of Agriculture”, explained Fernando Macena.

Daniel Guimarães presented the Zarc methodology for harvest and safrinha corn (second harvest). He showed how climatic factors determine agricultural productivity. “What we do is evaluate climate risks and a study of probabilities. The entire modeling process involves determining cutoff limits. We also evaluate how the interaction of three factors works: climate, soil and culture, as well as the water balance.” Eduardo Monteiro detailed the data collected for the corn harvest and off-season in the different regions of the state of Minas Gerais. He highlighted that the objective of this meeting is to show the results, methodology and modeling parameters. “That way we can make adjustments. Zoning continues, in most cases, to consider rainfed crops. But there is also zoning for irrigated crops,” he said.

“Former agriculture minister Alysson Paolinelli also attended the meeting. He highlighted the importance of corn cultivation, the most demanded cereal in the world today. And he called for an increase in food production to meet the demand estimated by FAO until the year 2050. “We urgently need to increase our supply, especially of corn and sorghum. And we are able to produce more. We are discussing how to increase production here. One of them is to follow the zoning guidelines, with the planting times and all other conditions that are established, with the improvement of fertilization and management,” he said.

“Brazil can meet this fabulous demand that we will have from now until 2050. And this can be solved without needing to expand a square meter of area, it just needs to be irrigated. This is a practical, more economical solution. Except in the case of ILPF, where you recover pastures. Today we have almost two million hectares irrigated in the Cerrado region. These irrigations are allowing three harvests. That is great. These three crops perfectly fit the needs of the current market”, concluded the minister.

Zarc

Agricultural Climate Risk Zoning (Zarc) is an instrument of agricultural policy and risk management in agriculture, coordinated by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (Mapa). Zoning is prepared in two stages: modeling and validation of results. Validation meetings for corn harvests take place in Brazil in June and July 2020.  

The modeling consists of using models that allow indicating more appropriate planting periods, per municipality, taking into account the cycle of the cultivars and the type of soil, in order to minimize the chance that climatic adversities coincide with the most sensitive phase of the crops. This stage, coordinated by Embrapa, is prepared by a multidisciplinary team of experts using methodologies developed by several institutions.  

The head of Technology Transfer at Embrapa Milho e Sorgo, Lauro José Moreira Guimarães, considered the responsibility of the Zarc team. “We see how complex it is to run a system like this. And guest contributions enrich and clarify the situation in each region. We need to understand what the farmer is doing. And pay attention to the benefits that these tools can bring to agricultural activities.”

To validate the results presented at this meeting, in Minas Gerais, representatives from public and private institutions, farmer cooperatives, extension technicians, producers and Embrapa researchers participated. These professionals contributed to evaluating whether the results obtained with modeling are in accordance with reality in the field. This way, adjustments can be made, and the report that will be sent to Mapa can be completed.