Bahia Farm Show: president of Abapa presents the association's contributions to Bahian cotton farming

During the Bahia Farm Show 2024, which takes place until June 15th in Luís Eduardo Magalhães (BA), Luiz Carlos Bergamaschi (in the photo), president of the Bahian Association of Cotton Producers (Abapa), took stock of the entity's main points of contribution to cotton farmers in western Bahia and the Matopiba region, as well as to society in general and cities in the region. Bergamaschi will end his term as president of Abapa at the end of this year. 

In an interview with Revista Cultivar, he comments on the association's main achievements during his tenure as president of the entity. Check out:

Management and governance: Abapa intensified the improvement of all management and governance processes, making them more qualified, valuing internal staff, creating new methodologies, improving, training and empowering people to meet the demands of the region. In the last 10 years, Abapa has trained more than 90 thousand people in its training centers, free of charge. This qualified mass has been filling the region's lack of qualified labor, a problem that affects Brazil as a whole, especially Luís Eduardo Magalhães, due to its strong expansion in the last two decades. The result of this training action appears, objectively, in: drastic reduction in the rate of accidents at work; improvement in the productivity index; better opportunity for people to be paid after going through this training process. The cotton farmer who hires this workforce has the benefit of having a trained and qualified workforce, without incurring the inherent costs of this training.

Phytosanitary project: Since the implementation of cotton farming in the region, Fundeagro incentives, among other forms of fundraising for investments, have been used to develop cotton farming in western Bahia. These incentives have made it possible to research cotton varieties that are more adapted to the reality of the region, mapping production and properties (where Bahia was innovative in implementing the CAR – Rural Environmental Registry), phytosanitary control of cotton pests and diseases in the region (where the main pest has been the Cotton Boll Weevil), as well as in the dissemination and marketing of the cotton produced in the region. All these actions and resources contributed to the implementation, development and consolidation of cotton in the region. 

Expansion of the HVI fiber analysis laboratory: Last year, Abapa carried out more than 3,5 million analyzes on the quality of cotton fiber, in the Matopiba region. With the expansion of the capacity of the analysis laboratory, which in reality involves the construction of a new laboratory with almost 1 ha of built area (with a forecast of R$60 million in investments). This new analysis laboratory, already in an advanced stage of construction, will give Abapa the capacity to double the volume of analyzes carried out, giving cotton produced in the region an equal position to compete for new export markets with the main feather exporting countries, including the USA. With this, Abapa contributes to greater development of the region, with the arrival of more currency from these exports.

Bergamaschi highlighted these three pillars as the main foundations of his management, a legacy he will leave to his succession, as Abapa's contribution to the growth, development and sustainability of the cotton crop, produced in western Bahia.