Wheat production should reach 3,61 million tons in the current harvest in Paraná

The Subjective Harvest Forecast (PSS), released today by the Department of Rural Economy (Deral), indicates production of 3,61 million tons of wheat, compared to 3,64 million harvested last year. The trend, determined mainly by weather conditions, is a reduction of 1%. In the previous estimate, released in June, the prospect was that it would reach 3,81 million tons. As the drought continued, particularly in the North, some crops had even more limited development and had smaller ears.

“Despite the indications of loss, it is worth highlighting that the harvest has not yet started, which makes it difficult to safely project the volume to be obtained”, said agronomist Carlos Hugo Godinho. According to him, the harvesters should enter the field from August onwards, starting with the areas that faced the longest period of drought. “Based on the results from these areas, there will be greater reliability in the numbers”, he reinforced.

The other winter grains were less impacted than wheat, the main crop during this period. They can still present productions within what was initially planned. The concentration of these crops is in the South and Southwest regions of the State, where the drought was not as severe.

Corn – the 2023/24 second harvest of corn is advancing rapidly, reaching 76% of the 2,5 million hectare area. The average of the last ten harvests was 30% harvested in July. “A percentage as expressive as this in July has never been observed, but in this harvest it can be considered normal, as it was possible to plant at the beginning of agricultural zoning, especially in the West of the State, which has just over a third of the total area of corn”, said crop analyst at Deral, Edmar Gervásio.

Last year, second harvest corn occupied 2,38 million hectares. This space was expanded by 5% in the current cycle, reaching 2,5 million hectares. Even so, estimated production is 12,96 million tons, a decrease of 9% compared to 14,26 million tons in 2022/23. “Although the increase in area is relevant, the losses caused by climatic conditions were large”, he considered.

Olericulture – potato producers are harvesting the second 2023/24 harvest, but more slowly due to the rainy period in recent days. In the space of a month the evolution was 7 percentage points and today 89% of the 10,6 thousand hectares area is harvested, missing the regions of Campo Mourão, Cornélio Procópio and Pitanga.

“In previous years, potatoes were harvested until October in Paraná, but considering the rain in the first harvest and the drought in the second, the cycle was advanced with a reduction in productivity and the size of the tubers”, highlighted agricultural engineer Paulo Andrade . The expected production for this harvest is 293,7 thousand tons, a 12% reduction compared to the 334,5 thousand tons obtained in the same cycle last year.

Tomato production in the second harvest 2023/24, on the contrary, should increase by 16% in production, from 94 thousand tons last year to 109 thousand tons now. “There was excellent productivity”, he highlighted. The harvest evolved little in the last month, going from 77% to 84% of the 1,7 hectare area. The first harvest tomato is practically all harvested on the 2,5 thousand hectares, resulting in 145,8 thousand tons.

In relation to onions, the area in Paraná for the 2024/25 harvest is 3,3 thousand hectares, with a projected production of 135,2 thousand tons. The estimate is that there will be large national production, which would benefit the consumer, although the price may be reduced for the producer. In this crop, there was good use of the climatic windows and planting increased from 49% to 90% from one month to the next.