The orange crop of 2020/21 citrus belt of São Paulo and Triangle / South West Mining is estimated at 287.76 million of 40.8 kg boxes, according to the announcement made online on Monday (11) by Fundecitrus. The number is 25.6% smaller than previous crop, which was completed in boxes 386,790,000, and 12.5% below the average of the last ten years. About 20.56 million boxes will be produced in the Triangle Mineiro. The yield is estimated at 790 cases per hectare, compared to 1045 boxes per hectare obtained in the previous season.
“It’s a small crop considering the production potential of the orchards, but this is due to the biennial cycle of the orange,” explains general manager of Fundecitrus, Juliano Ayres. “As the last harvest was high, the nutritional reserves of plants this year is lower. Added to this, we had the unfavorable weather conditions during fixing and the first growth phase of fruits “, he says.
climate influence and late flowering
The crop failure was caused by a reduction in the number of fruits per tree compared to the previous harvest. The big production last season increased consumption of nutritional reserves of the plants, making them more scarce, and triggering the phenomenon known as alternate bearing. In addition, the weather also had a negative influence: the high temperatures in September and October 2019 damaged the fixation of the newly formed fruit.
Adverse weather conditions have also been observed in March and April 2020 and reached the fruits already in an advanced stage of development. According to the Weather Sum data, the rain accumulated volume in this period was not even half the historical average (1981-2010) and has restricted growth of the crops.
Of the total estimated 245,150,000 boxes are first and second fruit blossoms (85.2% of total), 34.64 million flowering of third boxes (12%) and 7.97 million fourth boxes bloom (2.8%). The dry weather in March and April 2020 restricted the growth of the fruit, which should remain lower until harvest. The expectation is that the oranges are harvested with 159 grams of weight.
productivity alternating regions
Productivity per sector this season, compared to the previous year, shows significant variations between locations. The Northwest, covering the regions of Votuporanga and Sao Jose do Rio Preto, ranks first in the ranking that measures the productivity fall. The 492 cartons per hectare to be produced in this sector, representing a decrease of 46.7% in relation to the 2019/20 season. Following are the northern sector (Minas Triangle regions, cooler and Altinopolis) with expected yield of 686 cartons per hectare (-35.9%); the Center sector (regions of Matao, Duartina and Brotas) with 721 boxes per hectare (-30.1%); South sector (regions of Porto Ferreira and Limeira), with expectations of 781 boxes per hectare (-16.5%); and the West (Avaré and Itapetininga regions), which should be harvested per hectare boxes 1.185 (-2.7%) (see chart below).
“The greater the expected fall in productivity for this crop, the greater the increase observed in the previous harvest. This is evidence of the biennial production cycle of the orange trees, showing the fruits of a year of cargo is usually inversely proportional to the load of the previous year, reflecting significant variations yield per hectare which alternate between crops, “says the coordinator the PES, Vinicius Trombin. “But the main reason for crop variations are climate changes that often occur from one year to another. In areas with more stable climate, such as Avare and Itapetininga, productivity fluctuations are smaller, “added the research coordinator.
Recovery juice consumption
The citrus belt of São Paulo and Triangle / South West Mining is the world’s largest orange juice producer. According to the methodological coordinator of the PES and professor at USP and FGV, Marcos Fava Neves, the 2020/21 harvest and the volume of inventories are now balanced due to the recovery in demand for juice, which was heated in major markets because of pandemic covid-19. “Given the quest for strengthening immunity, the citrus sector observes heating consumption of orange juice. This is an extremely nutritious liquid food,” he says.
Citrus and sustainability
This year, the PES has estimated, based on the methodology developed by Embrapa Territorial, the area with preserved forest present in citrus properties: are 182,000 hectares across the citrus belt. On average, there is a dedicated hectare to preserve the properties for each 2.52 hectares devoted to citrus cultivation. Data were obtained from the crossing of the information collected in the field by Fundecitrus with data from the Environmental Rural Registry (CAR).
“The work shows the important role of the citrus industry in environmental preservation and biodiversity, with a living area of preserved environments on farms,” says Trombin.
Methodology
To prepare the estimate, 2,557 plots were counted, plant by plant, and 1,590 trees were harvested around the citrus belt. “Reducing the number of samples depending on Covid-19 very little impact on the overall result of the survey, which can be evidenced by the error of ± 2.65% in the average number of fruits per tree,” says the analyst of methodologies FOOT. José Carlos Barbosa, a professor in the Department of Engineering and Exact Sciences FCAV / Unesp.
The Fundecitrus the Crop Estimates Research is conducted in cooperation with the Markestrat, with the Faculty of Economics, Administration and Accounting (FEA) of the University of São Paulo (USP) and the Faculty of Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences (FCAV) University Estadual Paulista “Julio de Mesquita” (Unesp).
This text was translated by machine from Brazilian Portuguese.