The Brazilian fruit crop has dropped over
the past years, in spite of the Country’s fruit
farming potential. However, the 2017 result is
supposed to outstrip the 38.775 million tons
harvested in the previous year, as the produc-
tion of the fruits with the biggest share has
gone up, according to data from the Brazilian
Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
Thistotalresultsfrom22fruitspeciessurveyed
bytheIBGE.Therefore,thetotal,inadditionto
being subject to changes, could vary accord-
ing to the number of species considered for
thecalculation. Theplantedareaof these fruit
species amounted to2.523millionhectares in
2016,down2.2%fromthepreviousyear.
The Brazilian Fruit Growers and Export-
ers Association (Abrafrutas) has it that the na-
tionalproductionvolumeshouldreach44mil-
lion tons throughout the year. To reach this
result, the entity takes into consideration, be-
sides other data from the IBGE, information
furnished by fruit exporters. The planted area
reaches 2million hectares. This area does not
include the 567.547 thousandhectares devot-
ed tocashewnut, the third-largest areaon the
list of the 22 fruits surveyed by the IBGE. Fruit
farmingemploysapproximately5millionpeo-
ple, 16%of the total job vacancies of agribusi-
ness. “At least five job positions are generated
byeachhectaredevotedtofruit”,saysAbrafru-
taspresidentLuizRobertoBarcelos
Year 2017 should come to a close with a
bigger fruit production volume compared to
theprevious year. According to theSystemat-
icAgriculturalProductionSurvey(LSPA),con-
ductedbytheIBGE,fruitsthatcelebratedbet-
ter results were oranges, bananas, grapes,
cashew nuts, pineapples and Bahia coco-
nuts. The increase is supposed to achieve
8.2% for oranges, 5% for bananas, 70.7% for
grapes,80.5%forcashewnuts,3.2%forpine-
apples and 1.5% for Bahia coconut. This in-
crease represents 2.592 million tons in 2017,
just adding the extra tons of oranges, banan-
as, grapes andcashewnuts.
According to the IBGE, the total volume of
oranges is estimated at 18.7 million tons for
2017,inspiteofthe4.4%smallerplantedarea.
Favorable weather conditions and disease
controleffortscontributedtowardsthegrow-
ing process, ultimately resulting into heavier
fruits, a fact that reflected in the productivi-
ty of 29.641 kilograms per hectare, up 13.2%.
On theother hand, thepineapple crop is like-
ly to reach 1.7 billion fruits, up 3.2%, result-
ing from the 3.8% bigger planted area. The
70.7% bigger grape crop is, partially, due
to the sharp decline in the 2016 crop year,
Firmand
strong
Increase in the productionof high value fruits,
like oranges, bananas and pineapples, should contribute
towards a higher volume compared to 2017
Inor Ag. Assmann
16
FARTURA
•
ABUNDANCE
Produçãobrasileirade
frutas - por ano
Área colhida Volume (t)
2016
2.523.144 38.775.318
2015
2.581.097 39.241.264
2014
2.646.535 39.872.979
2013
2.749.775 40.180.224
2012
2.849.813 40.747.393
Fonte: IBGE.
