Technicians debate the new watermelon planting period

Mato Grosso do Sul had an area of ​​1224 hectares cultivated with watermelon and produced 22.359 tons in 2019, in 39 municipalities, with Eldorado, Santa Rita do Pardo and Naviraí being the largest producers. These are data collected by the State Secretariat for the Environment, Economic Development, Production and Family Agriculture (Semagro).

According to the Ministry's secretary, Jaime Elias Verruck, Semagro, together with the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (Mapa), Agraer and Embrapa Agropecuária Oeste, was sued by a group of watermelon producers in the municipality of Eldorado, MS , to visit them in a year when there was excessive rain, in October, harvest month. The demand was to evaluate a possible change in the date recommended by Zoning for watermelon planting. “Producers wanted to bring forward the planting period to try to avoid the heavy rain during the harvest period,” says Verruck.

And so began the research work of Embrapa Agropecuária Oeste, which now culminates in technical meetings to validate the new planting period, recommended by the Agricultural Climate Risk Zoning (ZARC). The first meeting is to validate the results in Mato Grosso do Sul, on November 26th. The ZARC work was also carried out in other regions of Brazil: South, Southeast, Northeast, North, in addition to Mato Grosso and Goiás, “at the request of the national Zoning coordination, which requested that the work be extended to the entire national territory, as there was information about this crop for only three states in the country”, informs Auro Akio Otsubo, deputy head of Technology Transfer at Embrapa Agropecuária Oeste. In addition to Embrapa Agropecuária Oeste, Embrapa Informática Agropecuária, Embrapa Uva e Vinho, Embrapa Meio-Norte and Embrapa Pesca e Aquicultura are organizing the event to present the results.

“This work gives producers the opportunity to diversify their property, based on guidelines regarding the best sowing times, with lower risks of loss. Allied to this, agricultural policy instruments, such as rural credit, whether funding or investment and securitization, are guided by zoning information”, reinforces Harley Nonato de Oliveira, general head of the Embrapa Research Center, in Dourados, MS .

Lucas Galvan, superintendent of Senar AR/MS, informs that from October 2019 to October 2020, watermelon came in second place among the fruit and vegetables produced by producers in Mato Grosso do Sul, served by the Technical and Management Assistance of Senar/MS. “2,2 tons were produced, generating R$1,2 million.”

According to researcher Carlos Ricardo Fietz, coordinator of the watermelon ZARC work, “new methods and resources for modeling and data processing have enabled greater precision and accuracy in the results. To carry out the necessary reviews, an agreement was signed between Embrapa, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Central Bank of Brazil. Therefore, Embrapa is reviewing the recommendations for, on average, eleven crops per year, with the financial and logistical support of Mapa and the Central Bank,” he explains.