Embrapa Cocais, UEMA and Senar hold field day on rice cultivation

This Tuesday, May 21st, from 8am to 12pm, representatives from Embrapa Cocais, the State University of Maranhão – UEMA and the National Rural Learning Service – Senar will meet at the UEMA School Farm, Campus São Luís, to discuss alternatives for managing the rice cultivation with technicians, teachers, students and extension agents. It is also hoped that the field day will contribute to the training of agronomy students and the popularization of science in urban and rural areas.

“At this event, the emphasis will be on the integrated management of diseases, pests, weeds, cultivars and seed production, without excluding agronomic issues such as soil fertility, fertilization, crop cycle, sowing density, spacing, among others”, said Embrapa Cocais analyst Carlos Santiago, who, at the event, will give a lecture on “Management to obtain high productivity”. According to him, the university is an environment that promotes the transfer of technology, training leading agronomists, ready to pass on, in the future, the knowledge acquired to producers, communities and actors linked to the production chain of this cereal.

Also as a representative of Embrapa Cocais, researcher Guilherme Barbosa Abreu will speak about “Rice cultivars for the Highlands system and seed production in Maranhão”. For the researcher, "it is important for agronomy students to know how cultivar development occurs. During the field day, we will present different rice cultivars adapted to Maranhão and the characteristics of each one of them.”

The other themes on the program, brought by UEMA representatives, complement the objective of the event: “Pest management and preservation of natural enemies” and “Identification and management of rice diseases”, respectively by professors Joseane Rodrigues de Souza and Antonia Alice Rodrigues.

Rice in Maranhão 

Maranhão is the 1st rice producing state in the Northeast Region and the 5th national producer, but it is not self-sufficient in the production of this cereal. Rice has great potential for development, areas, soil, climate, in addition to being a traditional food in the State. In the last six harvests, there has been a great increase in productivity in the state.

Embrapa Cocais, in partnership with other Embrapa Units: Embrapa Arroz e Feijão, Meio-Norte and Secretariat of Innovation and Business - SIN, together with the State Government, universities and Camil Alimentos have, since 2014, been developing great efforts to leverage the rice production chain in this State. Embrapa and universities seek, through research and technology transfer, to leverage regional development with productive inclusion, improved income and reduced differences in productive efficiency in relation to other Brazilian regions.

In Maranhão, rice cultivation is carried out in three major systems: highlands, favored rainfed and irrigated. The favored rainfed system is considered an emerging system, it has gained many followers in recent years and consists of the use of cultivars suitable for the irrigated system, sown in areas that subsequently form water depths naturally or become soaked with rain. Research into management techniques for these systems adapted to the reality of the State of Maranhão has been promoting the gradual increase in the productivity of this crop in these different systems.