Partnership seeks to improve cotton cultivation with food crops in the Sertão of Paraíba

Embrapa Algodão, in partnership with the Association of Small Producers of Serrinha, in the municipality of Bom Sucesso, PB and Santa Luzia Redes e Decoração (São Bento, PB), are carrying out a social innovation project, with the aim of developing a production system for growing cotton with food crops in the Sertão of Paraíba. Also partners in the project are the Paraibana Research, Rural Extension and Land Regularization Company (Empaer), the Organization of Brazilian Cooperatives (OCB) and Sebrae. The project began last year and will last four years.

“The project is anchored in three basic axes: improvement of agricultural technologies; training of farmers, and socioeconomic assessment of the production system”, says researcher Francisco Farias, from Embrapa Algodão, who coordinates the project. 

Technology improvement

In terms of improving technologies, the project will evaluate new white and colored cotton cultivars. “We will make new varieties available, with better fiber quality, and greater productivity for small producers”, says Farias. “We will also define sustainable organic fertilizer, aiming to increase productivity”, he adds. Another important point of the project will be the adaptation of mechanized harvesting for family farming. Embrapa is already in the final phase of developing a single-line harvester that will be tested in the Sertão of Paraíba. 

“We will also recommend additional irrigation to minimize the effects of drought. With this supplementary irrigation, we hope that the producer will be able to close the cycle and produce more”, he says. The project will also define a Crop-Livestock Integration (ILP) system, integrating cotton cultivation within the scope of family farming. It is also planned to create an organic cotton seed bank.

Training

In terms of training, 200 farmers will be trained in the areas of business, entrepreneurship and cooperatives, always focusing on the organic cotton production system.

Socioeconomic assessment

The third and final axis will be the socioeconomic assessment to obtain a study of the technical, economic and social feasibility of the production system. “We will find out what the production cost of small producers is, what the net income is and what can be done to improve this profitability”, says the researcher.