Agricultural zoning of coffee climate risk in Bahia is updated

The updated version of the Agricultural Climate Risk Zoning (Zarc) for coffee for the state of Bahia was published by the Agricultural Policy Secretariat of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (Mapa) on Official Gazette of the Union this Monday (05/09). The new results now classify some additional municipalities within the low climate risk categories in the Chapada Diamantina Region.

The local production sector requested the Risk Management Department (Deger/Mapa) to review the results for rainfed farming, claiming that such production would be viable in some areas. A relevant part of local production comes from irrigated areas, a crop already indicated as fully viable by previous Zarc results which, however, did not identify them as rainfed.

The region remained underestimated due to the prevailing condition in its surroundings, with a mostly hot and dry and semi-arid climate, and also due to the reduced number of meteorological stations with historical series of sufficient duration. To update statistics and estimate the real viability of rainfed farming in the region, a technical mission was carried out within the scope of technical cooperation between Embrapa, Mapa and Proagro - Banco Central do Brasil.

The survey carried out by a team of researchers from Embrapa resulted in the indication of favorability for the cultivation of rainfed coffee in an area formed by a narrow transition strip of land, with a predominant altitude above 800 meters, oriented from north to south and covering some municipalities or part of municipalities.

The updated version of Zarc Café now includes municipalities, mainly in the northern part of Chapada, such as Bonito, Seabra, Iraquara, Mulungu do Morro, Morro do Chapéu, among others. 

Mission

The technical mission organized by Embrapa, coordinator of the Zarc Network, had the participation of researchers from four research centers, who visited municipalities in the Chapada Diamantina region, in the state of Bahia, visiting coffee producing areas and interviewing local technicians and producers. The initiative was carried out between the 24th and 27th of July. 

The objective of the expedition was to collect data on productivity, phenology, climatic conditions, soil and relief, as well as information on the cultivation of rainfed coffee in the region to expand Zarc do Café's knowledge base.

Upon arriving in the region, the researchers discovered that it was an environment with particular characteristics, with well-managed coffee plantations, showing high vegetative vigor and yields higher than the state average. 

Specifications: 

Among the main favorable characteristics verified by experts are:

Water - Due to the high altitude, above 900 meters in most of the coffee plantations evaluated, the region has a mild thermal environment, with average monthly temperatures varying between 18 and 25 °C, providing low rates of water loss through the evapotranspiration process.  

Rain - The rainfall regime is strongly influenced by the local relief, with annual accumulations between 800 and 1200 millimeters per year with good distribution throughout the year and water restrictions that are more pronounced in just two months of the year.

Ground - It was observed that crops are normally cultivated in deep soils, characteristic of oxisols, with good natural fertility, well managed and a high technological level. 

The expedition included researchers Gustavo Rodrigues, Fernando Macena, Balbino Evangelista and Maurício Coelho, from Embrapa Digital Agriculture, Cerrados, Aquaculture and Fisheries and Cassava and Fruit Culture, respectively. 

Zarc Update

In the process of updating Zarc, two additional historical series of rainfall stations from coffee producing regions and 16 more series of rainfall data estimated by satellite were selected. Furthermore, the radius of influence of the station points was reduced to generate more localized results over Chapada, suited to the particularities of the region.

From this, a new version was generated for Zarc Café Arabica, making it possible to identify with greater precision the municipalities with production viability and lower climate risk for dryland coffee, explains the coordinator of the Zarc Network, researcher Eduardo Monteiro , from Embrapa Digital Agriculture.

“The information verified locally, added to the inclusion of new meteorological data in the processing of Zarc coffee, allowed a more precise and localized assessment, allowing us to prove the viability of the risky cultivation within the acceptable limits for coffee production in that region”, points out Monteiro.