New sesame agricultural zoning published

Published on May 25th, in the Official Gazette of the Union, the ordinances which deal with Agricultural Climate Risk Zoning (Zarc) for sesame cultivation. This is the first zoning for the crop that considers climate risks of 20%, 30% and 40% and not just 20%, as was done previously. Another novelty is that three new levels of available water (AD) of soils were added to the crop zoning, meaning that it went from three to six types of soil. The changes will allow for an expansion of areas with assessed climate risk for sesame cultivation.

Zarc is an agrometeorological study that aims to reduce risks related to climate phenomena, which can cause significant losses in agricultural production. Zoning indicates the best time or window for planting crops in different types of soil and different cultivars. The study is used by financial institutions to evaluate credit and rural insurance, as it provides information on the chances of success of each crop depending on the location and time in which it is planted.

Developed by Embrapa in 1996, the tool also supports public agricultural development policies. The results of the study show in which municipalities (where) it is possible to produce within the accepted risk levels (20, 30 and 40%).

The new Zarc Gergelim also innovates in covering only two groups/average production cycles – early and medium (100 and 125 days).

For the first time, the study also takes into account risks associated with the maturation phases of sesame capsules so that this does not occur during periods with a lot of rain, which can cause oxidation and consequent darkening of the seeds, and loss of production quality. Especially in regions where the rainy season is longer, such as in municipalities in the Brazilian Cerrado, the region responsible for the current expansion of the crop in the country. In the south of Brazil, some regions and seasons also present risks of frost.

“Very cold conditions, below the crop's basal temperature (for sesame it is 10 oC) for a given crop can occur in regions or at a specific time of year, in a way that makes satisfactory growth and development unfeasible. In these cases, even without the occurrence of a typical adverse event, which would be accounted for in the risk estimate, these situations are characterized as insufficient thermal conditions and which also make the culture unviable”, says Embrapa Algodão researcher, José Rodrigues Pereira, leader of team that evaluated sesame cultivation within the scope of the ZARC-Embrapa research network.

The Zarc tool

The results of Zarc's study are published in ordinances by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock for each Brazilian state. In this way, the results of the assessment help in the management of climate risks for sesame cultivation.

Zoning is used as basic guidance information in some agricultural policy programs, such as Proagro, which works as a type of agricultural insurance; Proagro Mais (a modality aimed at farmers enrolled in the Family Farming Strengthening Program – Pronaf); and the Federal Subsidy Program for Private Rural Insurance (PSR), which use zoning indications to establish contract conditions.

ZARC App – Plantio Certo

To assist producers in risk management and production planning, Zarc results can be consulted in the application ZARC – Right Planting, available free of charge for Android (Google) and iOS (Apple) operating systems. The tool provides official information from Agricultural Climate Risk Zoning (Zarc), in an easy-to-understand interface. Consulting Zarc - Plantio Certo allows the user to receive an indication of different levels of risk of losses due to adverse meteorological events, linked to their respective planting seasons, covering 43 crops and all municipalities in the national territory.