Anuário Brasileiro do Arroz 2011 - Unemat

Time
has
gone
Leading producer of
dry land rice in the
Country, Mato Grosso
improves quality but
reduces planted area,
with an eye towards
competitiveness
The production profile for rice in
Mato Grosso has changed radically
over the past six years. The leading
producer of dry land rice in Brazil
reached its peak in the 2004/05
crop year, with a planted area of
777 thousand hectares, which resulted
into a harvest of 2.04 million
tons. At present, the State
ranks as third national producer,
coming after Santa Catarina and
Rio Grande do Sul, two states that
specialize in irrigated paddy fields.
Mato Grosso has changed its
production system, previously
based on forest clearing for soybean
crops and livestock operations,
and is now going through
a new reality: both planted area
and production volumes have diminished,
but yield and quality are
on the rise. Currently, rice is grown
in rotation with soybean, corn and
cotton or for the recovery of degraded
areas.
In the 2010/11 crop year,
Mato Grosso harvested 687.4
thousand tons, down 7.4% from
the 742.7 thousand tons of the
previous year. The planted area
dropped 9.5% from the second
last and last crops, receding from
246.9 thousand hectares to 223.4
thousand.
However, average yields soared
2.3%, from 3,008 kg/ha to 3,077
kg/ha, with some fields reaching
up to 5 thousand kg/ha. In the
2004/05 crop year, average yields
reached 2,800 kg/ha. In the current
period, yields have soared 9%,
representing an additional 277 kg
per hectare.
Now, what prevails in the State
are the so-called “old areas”,
where new technologies began to
resort to fertilizers, management
maximization practices and the
use of more productive cultivars
with better grain quality. This
resulted into a 71-percent reduction
in seeded area, but 35% of
the volumes produced consisted
of 58-percent unbroken kernels,
while 40% of the crop contained
upwards of 52-percent unbroken
kernels. Up to 2006, Mato Grosso
used to harvest 47% of unbroken
kernels and rarely reached a rate
of 55%. With such raw material,
the State produced parboiled rice
or type 2 rice. Type 1 rice was only
possible in mixtures with superior
quality rice from the South.
DECISIVE TURN With its
production falling into the category
of long-grain rice in 2005
(therefore, not included in the
Brazilian standards), along with
low commercialization prices, Mato
Grosso needed to get restructured
and is still reaping the ripple effects.
In no condition to open new
areas and with the Cirad 141 cultivar
marginalized due to the low
quality of the seed “saved” by the
growers, the sector was forced to
invest in research works.
It was then that the picture of
technology innovation came in. At
this point in time, AN Cambará, of
Agro Norte Sementes e Pesquisas,
is the predominant variety in Mato
Grosso.
Also expressive is the area
planted to two Embrapa varieties:
Sertaneja and Primavera. Rotation
schemes with soybean, blackbeans,
corn, cotton and the recovery
of degraded pastureland have
been the target of new technical
guidelines regarding lime applications,
fertilization practices and
the control of weeds, pests and
diseases.
And the rice pattern in Mato
Grosso changed for the better.
“With this new technology package
and the chance to produce a
winter crop, as of next year, it is
only the market that is setting limits
to the revitalization of the rice
business in the Center-West.”, says
Mairson Santana, manager at Agro
Norte.
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