Paraná should once again be the productivity champion in soybeans and corn in the 2017 harvest, according to a systematic survey of agricultural production by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). After being in sixth place in the soybean ranking in 2016, due to the crop failure, the State should lead the yield this year, with 3,456 kilos per hectare, against 3,087 kilos per hectare in 2016.
Paraná should surpass Santa Catarina (3,431 kilos per hectare) and Minas Gerais (3,206 kilos per hectare). Mato Grosso should be well behind, with 3,146 kilos. The Brazilian average is estimated at 3,126 kilos per hectare. Behind only Mato Grosso, Paraná is the second largest soybean producer, expected to produce 18.5 million tons this year, 9.8% above the previous harvest, according to IBGE estimates.
In last year's harvest, Paraná lost, due to bad weather, around 2 million tons of soybeans, recalls the director of the Department of Rural Economy (Deral) of the Secretariat of Agriculture and Supply, Francisco Simioni. “This year the prospects are very good, with a forecast of an increase of 10% in soybean productivity. The harvest is in its initial phase, mainly in the North and West regions, and the weather has helped”, he says.
CORN
After coming in second place in the first harvest corn ranking in 2016, with 7,990 kilos per hectare, Paraná also returns to the top this season, with a yield estimated by IBGE of 8,768 kilos per hectare. The State is ahead of Mato Grosso do Sul (8,500), which last year had taken the lead, the Federal District (8,249) and Santa Catarina (7,718). The forecast is for production of 4.3 million tons in Paraná, 30% above the previous year.
“Paraná combines high productivity with a high volume of production and planted area. Among the country's large grain producers, it is the one that best combines these two indicators”, says the director of the research center at the Paraná Institute for Social Economic Development (Ipardes), Daniel Nojima.
The high productivity in the field in Paraná is due to the work of more than a decade of technological development, soil and water management, pest management, crop rotation and agroecological zoning, according to Simioni. “It is a constant improvement, which guarantees an increase in production even though Paraná no longer has an agricultural frontier”, says Siminoni.
According to him, Paraná cannot expand its agricultural frontier. Its growth is vertical, with high productivity rates. “In soybeans we are close to the top, but there is still room for us to advance in second-crop corn,” he says.
In corn from the second harvest, Paraná reached the mark of 6.5 thousand kilos per hectare, but mainly due to problems with the weather, cold and rain, productivity remained at 4,653 last year.
In total, Paraná should harvest, according to IBGE projections, 23.3 million tons in the summer harvest, 13.4% more than the previous one (20.5 million tons).
