Embrapa negotiates partnership to advance cotton fiber research

Embrapa Algodão (Campina Grande, PB) and the Goiana Association of Cotton Producers (Agopa) began negotiations to consolidate a partnership between the institutions with a view to taking research into cotton fiber quality in Brazil to a new level. The objective is to reduce costs and increase the efficiency of analyzing plume samples. The negotiation foresees that cotton fiber quality analyses, currently carried out in the Unit's Fiber and Yarn Laboratory, will now be carried out in the Agopa laboratory, at no cost to Embrapa, bringing greater efficiency in the use of public resources. The Embrapa Algodão Fiber and Yarn Laboratory carries out analyzes of the intrinsic quality of cotton fiber, one of the most important pieces of information for research into this crop.

One of the terms of the partnership provides for the transfer of an HVI (High Volume Instrument), equipment that measures various characteristics of fibers, from the Unit's headquarters in Campina Grande to Agopa's Visual Classification and HVI Laboratory, in Goiânia, GO. “This partnership, in addition to economic reasons, has great strategic importance for Embrapa's cotton research as it creates the conditions to expand studies on fiber quality, increasing Embrapa's interaction with the Brazilian productive sector, involving the sharing of human resources and financial, infrastructure and knowledge. This partnership generates gains for both Embrapa and cotton producers in Brazil”, says the general manager of Embrapa Algodão, Liv Soares.

According to Embrapa Algodão's Technical Note, today the average cost of analyzing each cotton sample is R$43,85. Last year, around 15 thousand samples were taken, totaling a cost of more than R$650 thousand. With the partnership, this cost will be assumed by Agopa.