ZARC published for corn with brachiaria for Piauí and Maranhão

Producers in Piauí and Maranhão can now plant corn intercropped with brachiaria, allowing access to agricultural insurance programs. This is possible thanks to the publication by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (MAPA) of ordinances numbers 359 and 360, of December 17, 2019, which approve the Agricultural Zoning of Climate Risk (ZARC) for the cultivation of corn intercropped with brachiaria in the states of Maranhão and Piauí, harvest year 2019/2020.

On the same date, ordinances were also published for Acre, Pará and Tocantins. In addition to these five states approved in December, the zoning already included the Federal District, Goiás, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Paraná and São Paulo. Click here and access the entrances.

Agricultural Climate Risk Zoning (ZARC) is a method developed by Embrapa and partners, applied in Brazil through the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply, which provides the indication of dates or planting/sowing periods by crop and by municipality, considering the characteristics of the climate, the type of soil and cultivar cycle, in order to prevent climatic adversities from coinciding with the most sensitive phases of crops, minimizing agricultural losses.

The intercropping of corn with brachiaria is one of the strategies used in the Crop and Livestock Integration System (ILP), a technology developed by Embrapa that provides for the diversification of production and reduction of problems caused by successive annual crops and the impact of droughts on successor crops.

Samuel Werner, rural producer in the municipality of Uruçuí, PI, comments that the use of intercropping corn with brachiaria is an excellent alternative to improving soil conditions. “In our region there is great climate instability and the use of this system, in addition to improving the chemical and physical quality of the soil, decompresses it, leaving it with better aeration and creating a layer of organic matter. All of this causes the soil to retain more water, which is essential in a region that has cerrado/semi-arid transition characteristics.”

Climate instability, according to Werner, makes production in a second harvest, or safrinha, as it is also known in the region, difficult. “The approval of the zoning of corn with brachiaria will allow us to have a harvest with cattle, which will improve profitability and sustainability because we will produce more in the same area. So, for our region, the implementation of zoning is very important”

According to the Technical Note published by MAPA, the intercropping of grain-producing plants with tropical forages has increased significantly in recent years in regions that experience dry winters. The intercropping of corn with brachiaria is possible thanks to the difference in time and space in the accumulation of biomass between the species.

Also according to the Technical Note, the association between the direct planting system and the consortium between annual crops and pastures is one of the options that presents the greatest benefits, such as greater recycling of nutrients, accumulation of straw on the surface, improvement of the physical part of the soil, through joint action of root systems and the incorporation and accumulation of organic matter, in addition to being more sustainable compared to conventional cultivation.

The identification of areas suitable for growing corn intercropped with brachiaria, at three risk levels (20, 30 and 40%), was carried out by applying a crop water balance model. In this model, water and thermal requirements, duration of the cycle, plant development phases and useful soil water reserve for cultivation of this species are considered, as well as reference rainfall and evapotranspiration data from series with at least 15 years of daily data recorded at 3.750 selected rainfall stations in the country.

The municipality that presented at least 20% of its area with climatic conditions within the criteria considered, in 80% of the years evaluated, was considered suitable for the cultivation of corn intercropped with brachiaria.