AgroRosário highlights the strength of western Bahia for Brazilian agribusiness

On the 18th, 19th and 20th of March, the 8th edition of AgroRosário, the second largest and most important agricultural fair in Bahia, will be held in the district of Rosário, in Correntina. Held since 2013 by JH Sementes, the event highlights the great importance that western Bahia has had in Brazil's agricultural scenario.

To give you an idea, the region is currently home to the second largest agricultural GDP in the country, the municipality of São Desidério, which, according to research by Municipal Agricultural Production (PAM), from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), registered a value of production of R$4,6 billion in 2020, an increase of 44,6% compared to the previous year. Soy, corn and cotton are the highlights of the region's agricultural production.

Among the more than 100 exhibitors that will be present at AgroRosário 2022, the participation of Grupo Pivot, national leader in the commercialization of irrigation systems, has already been confirmed. “Pivot has been operating in this region of western Bahia for three years and even in a short period of time we achieved, last year, one of the network's biggest results in the sale of irrigation systems”, reveals João Morais, manager responsible for the Bahia region of Pivot, which also operates in Goiás, Minas Gerais and Tocantins.

With a store in the Bahian municipality of Luís Eduardo Magalhães, Pivot will bring to the fair several new products in central pivots, localized and sprinkler irrigation. “In Bahia, for now, we work exclusively with irrigation and sell mainly to producers in the municipalities of Correntina, Jaborandi, Cocos and São Desidério. To participate in AgroRosário, we have already appointed around 10 design consultants specialized in irrigation to serve the fair's audience, predominantly made up of grain producers”, explains the Pivot manager.

For Cauê Campos, CEO of the Pivot group, participating in fairs such as AgroRosário is a valuable opportunity to contact producers and to establish a presence in a region that is currently extremely strategic for Brazilian agribusiness. “Soy is the flagship of agricultural production in western Bahia, occupying more than 65% of the total cultivated area in this region. To give you an idea, the region corresponds to around 5% of national production and 58% of production in the Northeast”, highlights Cauê when citing data from the Association of Farmers and Irrigators of Bahia (Aiba).

But in addition to soybeans, the agricultural hub in western Bahia also produces corn and cotton. Brought by thousands of agricultural producers from the south of the country, who migrated to the west of Bahia in the 1980s, cotton is a symbol of the region's development and strength in recent years. Cotton from Bahian producers is the first in quality in the country, and the region is, today, the second largest national producer. Corn is another strong crop in western Bahia, accounting for 66% of all corn produced in the state of Bahia.

From South to Bahia

Attracted by the low price of land and the promise of expanding agricultural production, producers from the south of Brazil began to migrate, between the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 80s, to the west of Bahia. The little structure and difficult soil were the biggest challenges. However, the management of these difficulties was what marked the advancement of agriculture in the place, which in addition to being an important grain producing hub in the country, is a reference in seed improvement research.

Producers from states such as Rio Grande de Sul, Paraná and Santa Catarina brought more modern agricultural techniques to Bahia, which managed to transform western Bahia into a new and promising frontier of Brazilian agribusiness.