Embrapa generates high-impact solutions for the vegetable sector

The Brazilian vegetable market today is highly diversified and segmented, with the production volume concentrated in six species – potatoes, tomatoes, watermelon, lettuce, onions and carrots – with family farming responsible for more than half of production. The main crops grown in Brazilian territory today are capable of presenting high productivity and large production volumes. But five decades ago the situation was not like this: almost all crops depended on imported seeds, normally produced by countries with a temperate climate. There were no production systems established for tropical conditions and different types of Brazilian soil.

The Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa), which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, played an important role in this transformation of the vegetable market, mainly due to the work of a research center that was created in the 70s precisely to generate solutions and meet sector demands. Embrapa Hortaliças was born in 1975, firstly as the Brasília State Research Unit (UEPAE de Brasília), then as the National Vegetable Research Center and finally in 1997 it was renamed Embrapa Hortaliças. Among the main advances achieved by it during this period are the adaptation of several cultivars to Brazilian soil and climate conditions, in addition to the development of production systems more suitable for the national territory.

Only one technology increased national garlic productivity by 30%

One of the most emblematic success stories is that of garlic. Thanks to technological innovations developed by Brazilian science for this crop over the last 50 decades, the productivity of Brazilian garlic has increased between 40% and 100%. Special emphasis goes to the recommendation of using virus-free seed garlic in commercial crops. Quite democratic, the technology is adopted by both large and small producers. It is estimated that, alone, it is responsible for at least 30% of the increase in productivity in the garlic production chain in Brazil.

In the case of small producers, it is common to see productivity double with the adoption of virus-free seed garlic, which gives an exact dimension of the social and economic importance of this technology. Large producers in the Cerrado region can produce up to 25 tons per hectare, far from the 8 tons produced at the end of the 90s. Some cultivars saw an increase of up to 150% with the adoption of virus-free seed garlic.

Serial challenges in tomato cultivation

Tomato research, which from the beginning faced major challenges in Brazil, gained important reinforcement with the creation of Embrapa Hortaliças. Tomato farming has always faced problems such as the severe attack of pests and diseases, which requires the constant and more intense use of pesticides; the torrential rains and high temperatures in summer, as well as the cold in winter.  

In the midst of such a challenging scenario, Embrapa presented technologies such as genetic improvement and phytotechnical management, for example, which have contributed to the sustainability of cultivation. Modern cultivars have incorporated genetic factors mainly against soil-borne and viral diseases and a wide collection of multi-resistant cultivars is now available. Molecular biology tools have also identified pathogens and pathogen variants that affect the crop.

Thus, despite the obstacles, all these advances achieved by national research have positioned Brazil among the 10 largest tomato producers in the world, with a total production of 3.753.595 tons, according to data from FAOSTAT (2022).

Tropical carrot

The challenge of making large-scale carrot production viable in the country was also no less complex. As it is a winter crop, it was practically impossible to produce it in Brazil during spring and summer. It was like this until the launch of the Brasília cultivar, in 1981, by the Embrapa Hortaliças Carrot Improvement Program. In addition to allowing sowing during the hottest periods of the year, the Brasília carrot also made it possible to shift production, previously restricted to the South and Southeast of Brazil, to other regions. 

After the launch of the Brasília carrot, companies used this original population and developed their cultivars derived directly from this genotype. Embrapa Hortaliças followed the same path. It is estimated that genetic improvement of carrots was responsible for a 90% increase in the crop's yield over the last 50 years.

Pepper: from stagnation to cultivation on a national scale

In recent decades, national research has also helped to bring pepper cultivation out of stagnation in the 1990s, with the development of new cultivars, hybrids and new technologies that allow peppers to be planted in all regions of the country all year round. Embrapa Hortaliças does not have pepper cultivars on the market, but its contribution was decisive in adapting the culture to the country, including the improvement of protected cultivation systems in greenhouses and greenhouses, fundamental for the stability of production, as practically neutralize the influences of the climate. 

Thus, peppers emerged from the stagnation of the 1990s to become one of the 10 most produced vegetables in all of Brazil. Today it is cultivated in practically every country, in greenhouses or in the open field. 

A bet on the future

The demands of the sweet potato production chain – ranked fifth among food crops in the world – have also found answers in research by Embrapa Hortaliças. In recent years, national science and producers' technology have boosted culture in the country. All this interest is due to a series of opportunities and threats that are expected to present themselves to the sector in the near future. 

In 1980, Embrapa Hortaliças set up an Active Germplasm Bank (BAG) for the crop. The first projects evaluated the commercial potential and selected the best accesses for launching cultivars. Sweet potatoes were also evaluated as an alternative for the production of alcohol and brown sugar. Other evaluations selected accessions with the highest carotenoid content, with orange pulp colors, for the Brazilian market of biofortified clones.

Research is now focused on enabling advances that will be crucial in the coming decades, such as the adaptation of sweet potatoes for industrial processing. More and more industries demand raw materials for the manufacture of food supplements, medicines and gluten-free products, a demand that can be met by sweet potato powder (flour).

The sustainability of the production chain will also depend on the development of cultivars that adapt to the demands arising from climate change predictions in future scenarios.

Lettuce

Embrapa has also contributed to the development of solutions for vegetable production chains such as lettuce - considered the most consumed leafy vegetable on the planet, and the most consumed in Brazil - which has also seen its production boosted in recent decades. 

Having overcome the first challenge of national research, of being able to produce lettuce also in the summer, in the 1980s Embrapa Hortaliças began studies involving the management of pathogens and cultivation systems for this vegetable. Over the last few decades, the Unit has also adapted several lettuce cultivars to conventional and organic cultivation systems. Furthermore, more recently the first phase of Embrapa's lettuce genetic improvement program began to be implemented.  

Onion

The results achieved by national research on onion production, with extensive contributions from Embrapa Hortaliças, are also relevant. According to IBGE data on onion production, productivity and harvested area over the last 49 years (1973 to 2021), in five decades the average Brazilian ten-year production almost tripled. Annual production, in turn, more than quintupled in the period, rising from 306.648 tons in 1973 to 1.640.628 tons in 2021. 

This advance was possible thanks to the adoption of technologies such as more productive, resistant cultivars adapted to tropical summers; research on seed production and quality; production of seedlings and bulblets; improvement of production systems and weed management, irrigation and fertigation.

Diversity

With a team of 135 employees, Embrapa Hortaliças develops solutions for many other crops, such as pumpkin, potatoes, eggplant, melon, pepper, pulses such as chickpeas and peas, strawberries, as well as research that covers everything from traditional food – in the case of non-Conventional Food Plants – to the frontier of science, as in the case of vertical gardens, a project developed by the Unit in partnership with the private sector.