Initially, Pronasolos brings together scientists in Rio de Janeiro

The Brazilian National Soil Program (Pronasolos) brought together more than 50 scientists in its first work workshop at Embrapa Solos (Rio de Janeiro-RJ), between the 14th and 18th of August. At the meeting, three main topics were addressed: soil survey methodologies, staff training and definition of priority areas.

Pronasolos, an ambitious project, is in its initial phase. It will map the Brazilian territory and generate data with different degrees of detail to support public policies, assist territorial management, support precision agriculture and support decisions to grant agricultural credit, all within a period of 30 years.

The workshop was preceded by local meetings, which took place in Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Brasília (encompassing the Central-West and North regions). These meetings sought to define a work agenda for carrying out soil surveys and also defining priority areas.

“At the meeting in Rio de Janeiro we sought to listen to people from the states, the regional specificities”, reveals Embrapa Soils researcher, Amaury de Caravlho Filho. This attention to national peculiarities was also recalled by the general head of Embrapa Amazônia Oriental (Belém-PA), Adriano Venturieri, “we have many Brazil within our country. I see people in the South with a good part of the territory mapped at a 1:25.000 scale, meanwhile, in the North, many places don't even have surveys at 1:250.000”.

Regarding soil survey methodologies, lectures by experts addressed experiences applied in Brazil in a traditional way, as well as those under development, such as digital mapping.

The importance of studying the soil was reiterated by the general head of Embrapa Cocais (São Luís-MA), Lourdes Mendonça. “Soil, together with water, is the cradle of agriculture and responsible for man's attachment to the land. It is the most important component of production and, depending on how we treat it, we will or will not build development on a lasting basis. We need to know our soils better, to guarantee the economic, social and environmental sustainability of the planet, guaranteeing our survival and that of future generations”.

This workshop was the first moment of discussion for the preparation of a guiding document on the topics mentioned above. The presentations, in the form of lectures, and the summary of the discussions will form a document to standardize proposals and for analysis at the next workshop, scheduled for October 2017, also at Embrapa Solos.

In addition to professionals from Embrapa, researchers from CPRM, IAC, IBGE UFSC, UFPI, UFRRJ and UFV were present.