West of Bahia begins cotton sowing this Sunday, 21st

The sanitary void for cotton ends this Saturday, November 20th, in the western region of Bahia. The following day, the 21st, the planters will begin sowing work, in a harvest that promises to be, according to the producers, excellent. Although, currently, the high costs of inputs – and even the threat of shortages of some of them – are a concern, the 2021/2022 harvest was planned in a different scenario from the current one, with some products, such as fertilizers, costing less. For this cycle, the Bahian Association of Cotton Producers (Abapa) estimates an area growth in the state of around 9% compared to the previous harvest, which was 266.662 hectares, 98% of this total, in the Western region, Bahia's cerrado.

One of the producers who decided to expand planting was Paulo Schmidt, from the Schmidt Group, who plants cotton, soybeans and corn in the municipalities of Barreiras, Luís Eduardo Magalhães, Riachão das Neves and Formosa do Rio Preto. In this 2021/2022 harvest, the family's cotton crops will be 22% larger than last year. “We planned, a year ago, how much we would plant and negotiated pesticides and fertilizers at other price levels. Today, the situation would be totally different,” he says, already thinking about 2022/2023.

According to the producer, just a setback in the weather or an event linked to a pest could frustrate the Group's expectations of an excellent harvest. “Agriculture is a risky activity, but if everything goes as normal, it will be a harvest that will go down in history”, he ponders. The Schmidts work with instruments to protect against exchange rate variations, such as hedging, both for sales in the futures market and for input purchases. Today 70% of its expenses are dollarized.

The example cited, according to the president of Abapa, Luiz Carlos Bergamaschi, reflects the way of thinking and acting of Brazilian cotton farmers. “Cotton producers plan each harvest at least one year in advance, analyzing the market and defining their climate and financial risk mitigation strategies. Now, with everything prepared, it's time to put the plan into action, in the best way possible. Last harvest, we had one of the lowest rates of boll weevil infestation ever recorded. This is due to the good work done by the producer, and the actions orchestrated by Abapa, through its Phytosanitary Program, with the Bahia Agricultural Defense Agency (Adab)”, highlights the president. “For the next harvest, the story is different. The planning will be on other bases”, concluded Bergamaschi.