Map indicates planting of corn 2nd harvest with brachiaria for five more states

Five more states will now have Agricultural Climate Risk Zoning (Zarc) for the 2nd harvest corn consortium with brachiaria. They are: Acre, Pará, Maranhão, Tocantins and Piauí. The states were included after reviewing the mapping carried out by Embrapa this year. The ordinances were published in the Official Gazette of the Union this Friday (20/12).

In addition to the five, the zoning included the Federal District, Goiás, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Paraná and São Paulo. Zarc regulations for the corn-brachiaria consortium for other states in the Northeast should be published soon.

The new studies for the 2nd harvest corn consortium with brachiaria brought other news. From now on, crop zoning will be presented in three risk levels, that is, it will be possible to identify the planting risk, per ten days (ten days), for risks of 20%, 30% and 40%.

Until then, the zoning for the consortium included planting windows only for a 20% risk. The methodology allowed the creation of a planting calendar for each municipality, correlated to the cultivar cycle and the type of soil, according to its water retention capacity, using data from historical series with an average of 20 years of daily records at available meteorological stations. .

How is corn planted with brachiaria 

The simultaneous planting of corn and brachiaria in the 2nd harvest allows the producer to continue to have two harvests and still be able to include the forage in the system. The forage (brachiaria), after the corn harvest, can be used for animal feed or to protect the soil, serving as straw for Direct Planting (PD) in the following summer harvest. The consortium is also an economically efficient strategy for forming or reforming pastures.

The rotation of annual crops and pastures is one of the alternatives for the sustainable management of soil and water resources, as pastures, when well managed, are more efficient in recycling nutrients, restructuring the soil, storing water and producing of organic matter than annual crops, obtaining positive effects on soil quality.

This system, known as Crop-Livestock Integration (ILP), is recommended for producers who seek to diversify production and overcome problems arising from successive annual crops, such as invasive plants and pests, in addition to minimizing the impact of droughts on successor crops.

The results obtained with ILP in Brazil demonstrate the benefits of this system in increasing the production of grains and meat, reducing production costs, increasing the capitalization of producers, improving and conserving the productive characteristics of the soil, and developing the sector. rural areas, economic stability, the generation of more direct and indirect jobs and agricultural sustainability.

What is Zarc for?

Zoning aims to reduce risks related to climate problems and allows producers to identify the best time to plant, taking into account the region of the country, the culture and different types of soil.

The system considers elements that directly influence the development of agricultural production such as temperature, rainfall, relative air humidity, occurrence of frost, water available in the soil, water demand of crops and geographic elements (altitude, latitude and longitude).

Farmers are obliged to follow Zarc's instructions to classify Proagro operations within the scope of rural credit, to access Pronaf and to have access to the Rural Insurance Program (PSR).