Tool assesses quality of direct planting in crops with central pivot

A new technology will help producers and technicians evaluate the quality of the irrigated direct planting system. The Direct Planting Participatory Quality Index for Central Pivot Irrigation Conditions (IQPi) was developed by the SoloVivo Research Network, within the scope of the Embrapa-Itaipu Binacional agreement. 

“The direct planting system (SPD) is a consolidated conservation agricultural practice in Brazil and represents one of the main sustainable production technologies in the field. For its advantages to be observed, it is important to use adequate crop and soil management, especially in irrigated conditions”, says Marcelo Boechat Morandi, general manager of Embrapa Meio Ambiente (SP). 

Irrigated agriculture is capable of increasing productivity by two to three times compared to rainfed crops; it also reduces the unit cost of production and optimizes land use throughout the year, with up to three cycles of agricultural crops in the same location.

Therefore, the use of SPD with irrigation is the union of sustainability with productivity capable of promoting important impacts on Brazilian agriculture. Therefore, the importance of techniques to verify its quality, as proposed by IQPi.

Index contributes to the continuous improvement of the production system  

“The application of IQPi is simple and quick, allowing self-assessment by the producer or rural assistance technician. It is a question and answer test whose results give rise to qualification metrics, with grades ranging from excellent to very poor, which characterize the condition of land management on the property”, explains Priscila de Oliveira, researcher at Embrapa and one of the authors of the Index .

Using the tool only requires basic addition and multiplication calculations. But there is a need for the producer to have a historical record of the land to be evaluated and to know which species were cultivated in the last three years, with the respective months of sowing and harvesting. In addition to other records for the same period, such as evidence of erosion, overflow on terraces and others. 

“The IQPi has nine indicators, only those that evaluate irrigation management require a little more technical knowledge to be efficient in improving the use of water resources and soil conservation. Irrigation parameters are covered, such as water balance and periodic maintenance of the central pivot”, details Alba Leonor, scientist at Embrapa Solos (RJ) and also author of the Indicator. 

The purpose is for the producer to use IQPi over time, in order to develop a process of continuous improvement in the production system with efficiency in the use of water by identifying critical points in management. The assessment can be extended to the entire rural property, even being considered within the scope of a hydrographic microbasin if, in the areas of its water influence, producers adopt this same management instrument.

“The habit of evaluating the management of the direct planting system, especially the irrigated system, brings enormous gains to national agriculture. By using IQPi, the producer receives an important benefit: the administration of the plots or plots of the property, being able, from there, to make the most accurate decisions in relation to the management adopted”, highlights Embrapa researcher Luis Carlos Hernani, developer from IQPi. 

Where to find IQPi

Interested producers and technicians can access the tool on the internet and answer the questionnaire in Annex 1, calculating the score according to Equation 1 and checking which management class you are in. From this, the individual scores of the indicators that deserve to be improved can be evaluated, preferably always with a technician, that is, those whose values ​​were below the critical level, for example. Thus, new corrective or preventive actions can be taken to improve the management of irrigated SPD. Collective organizations can make good use of the questions grouped in Annex 2.

The appropriation of the tool by technicians and rural producers contributes to the implementation of the goal “Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM)”, of the sixth UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), 2015: “Ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.” 

The origin

It is worth remembering that the IQPi is an adaptation of the Direct Planting Participatory Quality Index (IQP), developed for the rainfed conditions of the Paraná III Basin, in 2011, by a team led by Glaucio Roloff, retired professor at the Federal University of Latino Integration -American (Unila).

The tool was developed in the region of Paranapanema (SP) with support from the Associação do Sudoeste Paulista de Irrigantes e Plantio na Palha (Aspipp) and the Brazilian Federation of Direct Planting and Irrigation (FEBRAPDP). And it can be expanded to similar regions that use the same set of practices and techniques in crops in a direct planting system for irrigation conditions. 

In addition to Priscila, Alba and Luis Carlos, researchers Silvio Roberto de Lucena Tavares (Embrapa Solos) and Ricardo Ralisch, from the State University of Londrina and member of FEBRAPDP, are also creators of IQPi.