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PT_BR With grain production costs constantly rising and often unfavorable weather conditions, rural producers in Mato Grosso are always looking for alternatives to make their farm operations more viable. Among the possibilities on the farmer's radar are special crops of peanuts, sesame, beans, rice, cover crop mixes and special corn, demonstrating a promising market both externally and internally, with low risk and good profitability.
The first edition of Proventus Field Day, which took place in Sorriso, Mato Grosso, on May 16 and 17, covered special crops in depth with technical lectures by renowned researchers and specialists who provided a medium-term vision of the international and domestic market for special crops, mainly for sesame and peanuts.
With an eye on this market and the opportunity to meet future demand, agricultural engineer and researcher at LC Sementes, Murilo Oliveira Sampaio, explains that the company's genetic improvement and research department is about to launch two very promising sesame lineages. “We offer producers two lineages with different aims: one is LC 123, which has a sweeter material and is intended for baking and direct consumption at the table. The cycles are similar to what we already have, an average of 90. LC 103 has a more neutral flavor, which is more palatable, in this case it is intended for the industry, mainly for export. Where they have greater demands on the quality of these grains for direct consumption,” he pointed out.
The researcher also highlights that according to studies, sesame has shown better profitability compared to corn, with an interesting cost-benefit ratio, since it costs much more to plant and obtain profitability from corn than it does from sesame. The recent evolution of sesame can be measured in the areas planted with the crop, which more than doubled compared to last year in the region known as Eixo da BR 163, going from 60 thousand hectares to almost 130 thousand hectares of sesame planted.
Another crop that has been attracting the attention of producers is peanuts, and as a result, investment in research has increased in recent years, as explained by agricultural engineer and PhD in Plant Fertility and Nutrition, Dácio Olibone, who was the speaker at the peanut cultivar presentation station at the Proventus experimental field. “Over the past six years, we have been conducting research on peanut crops, providing results that enable producers to make more assertive decisions. For example, defining sowing dates, disease management, fertilization management, choosing the best cultivars, and assisting in Embrapa and IAC genetic improvement programs to identify the most adapted and productive cultivars for our Cerrado region. It is worth remembering that this is a very characteristic region with a very rainy climate, so the crop can have many problems with diseases, but over the years we have been working to identify these more resistant materials with a high production ceiling,” he highlighted.
For Olibone, the main challenge for the region is the industry. According to him, there is a survey that shows that many producers are interested in testing the crop, but today the bottleneck is the industry, but not only because of it, as it is still a crop geared towards export and that depends on the mood and fluctuations of the international market.
According to Leandro Lodea, one of the organizers of Proventus Field Day, the event exceeded expectations, both in terms of the quality of the content of the lectures, debates and field day, as well as the participation of the approximately 700 people who attended the two days of Field Day. “For us organizers, it was a very pleasant surprise, surpassing the expected audience. The level of the speakers was very good, with the interaction with the audience, the debates were very important. The generation of technology, the generation of information and the transfer of information, this greatly enhanced our experience,” he said.
For Lodea, the event on special crops in the region certainly raised a positive question in the minds of producers regarding more options for second harvests, moving away from the traditional corn and cotton. “These special crops have lower water requirements than soybeans and cotton. And they fit perfectly after the second corn harvest window, so these crops are coming to add value, to rotate the property and to provide an additional source of income for the farmer. But like any new crop, it has a learning curve and requires investment in technology. And that is what we are doing here,” he concluded.
The first edition of Proventus Field Day is organized by Proventus Pesquisa Agronômica, LC Sementes and Adisa Melhoramento Genético, and is supported by EMBRAPA, IAC, CAT and IBRAFE.
