74
Sílvio Ávila
Thedanger came
fromthe
sky
DespitetheincreaseinplantedareainBrazil
in2016,vineyardproductiondropped
considerablybecauseofbadweatherconditions
B
razil devoted a bigger area to
grapes in 2016, up 0.68% from
the previous year. Survey by
Embrapa Grape and Wine con-
cludes that grapes occupied an
area of 78,553 hectares in the growing sea-
son. In Rio Grande do Sul, where 60%of the
vineyards are located, therewas an increase
of 0.61% in planted area, totaling 50,044
hectares. In the remaining part of the south-
ern region there was also an increase in the
vineyards, but it was in the Southeast and in
Vale do São Francisco that the biggest area
expansions occurred, reaching 6.43% in
Minas Gerais and 4.83% in Pernambuco.
According to researcher Loiva Maria Ri-
beiro de Mello, from Embrapa Grape and
Wine, in Bento Gonçalves (RS), in spite of
the bigger area, the volume of the crop
was smaller. In the entire national terri-
tory, it amounted to 987,059 tons, down
34.08% from 2015. “The production of
grapes in the South, which represents up-
wards of 75% of the area devoted to vine-
yards in the Country, was atypical in 2016”,
he comments. Reductions reached 52.79%
and 51.03% in the fields in Rio Grande do
Sul and Santa Catarina, respectively. “The
blame for the smaller crop goes to a se-
ries of factors stemming from the adverse
weather conditions”, he insists.
Thespecialistmentionsthattheproblems
with the climate, especially in Rio Grande do
Sul, also interfered with the grapes destined
for processing (wines, juices andderivatives).
The volume amounted to 345,623 million ki-
