Soybean sowing calendars become mandatory for 20 states

The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (Mapa) published this Thursday (2), in the Official Gazette of the Union, the Ordinance No. 389 which establishes the soybean sowing calendars for the 2021/2022 harvest, which must be followed by producing states across the country. 

The phytosanitary measure, implemented in the National Program for the Control of Asian Soybean Rust (PNCFS), aims to rationalize the number of fungicide applications and reduce the risks of developing resistance to the fungus. Phakopsora pachyrhizi to the chemical molecules used to control this pest. 

Soybean sowing, which, until now, was only established in the states of Bahia, Goiás, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Santa Catarina and Tocantins, will also become mandatory, from this harvest onwards, in the states of Acre, Alagoas, Amapá, Ceará, Distrito Federal, Maranhão, Minas Gerais, Pará, Paraná, Piauí, Rio Grande do Sul, Rondônia, Roraima and São Paulo, totaling 20 federation units with a determined period for the beginning and end of planting. 

The calendars were established based on suggestions from State Agricultural Defense Agencies and Agricultural Climate Risk Zoning, adjusted according to the peculiar conditions of each producing region. 

“The adjustments were made by the national coordination of the PNFS, which identified the need to expand data collection to support the delimitation of the different periods of the sowing calendars, as well as their effective impact on the program’s intended results”, explains the coordinator- general of Plant Protection, Graciane de Castro. 

According to the coordinator, the objective is for the measure to be implemented in an organic and gradual manner, allowing subsequent periods to be stipulated in a manner consistent with the context of each productive region, especially with regard to soil and climate characteristics, management practices adopted to prevent and control the pest and the results of monitoring relating to its occurrence in each agricultural year. 

National Asian Soybean Rust Control Program 

The PNCFS, established by Ordinance No. 306/2021, aims to strengthen the soybean agricultural production system, bringing together strategic plant health defense actions with the support of agricultural research and technical assistance in pest prevention and control. 

Asian Rust, caused by the fungus Phakopsora pachyrhizi, and considered one of the most severe that affect soybean crops, and can occur at any phenological stage. In the various geographic regions where Asian rust has been reported at epidemic levels, damage ranges from 10% to 90% of production.