Brazildevotes
around22
thousandhectares
tothiscrop, of
which20 thousand
are located in
ChapadadoApodi
Despite questions on precipitation lev-
els, which have given rise to enormous dif-
ficulties to the melon supply chain, the pro-
duction of the fruit in Brazil continues firmly
on the right track. Despite reeling under bad
drought conditions over the past years, har-
vests have kept stable in the producing re-
gions. According to the president of the
Brazilian Fruit Growers and Exporters Associ-
ation (Abrafrutas), Luiz Roberto Barcelos, the
farmers had to abandon certain areas and
move to new farms – the biggest migration
took place in parts of Ceará, fromwhere the
farmersmoved toRioGrandedoNorte.
“These changes require more investments
and, therefore, more financial resources, thus
pushing up production costs stemming from
drilling deeper wells, whose pumping costs
are equally higher”, he ponders. Barcelos also
stresses that new technologies signal high-
er productivity rates, making up for the higher
costs. “Several pesticides were authorized for
melons.Thesepesticidesarenewermolecules,
moreefficientandmoreselective.Newmarkets
are receiving our fruit, like the Midlle East and
Russia,and,soon,wehopetofindourwayinto
the Asian markets”, says Barcelos, one of the
founderpartnersofAgrícolaFamosa.
Tomeet this demand, the sector devotes
around 22 thousand hectares to the crop,
of which 20 thousand are located in Chapa-
da do Apodi, in the States of Rio Grande do
Norte and Ceará, and 2 thousand in the re-
gion of Petrolina, in Pernambuco. “Average
productivity remains at 25 tons per hectare,
and harvest gets more intense from late Au-
gust to late March, when exports take place”,
he observes. Outside this timeframe, com-
mercialization occurs only in the domestic
market”. Only the State that leads produc-
tion,RioGrandedoNorte,accountedfor70%
of thenationalmeloncrop.
ThelatestconsolidatednumbersfromMu-
nicipal Agricultural Research (PAM), a division
oftheBrazilianInstituteofGeographyandSta-
tistics (IBGE), indicate that in 2016 the size of
the fruit crop in the Country reached 596,430
tons, with a production volume worth R$
597.724 million. These numbers represent an
increaseoverthepreviousyear,whenproduc-
tion amounted to 521,596 tons, with revenue
of R$ 470.921 million. The trend, in the presi-
dent’sview,pointstonoalterationsintermsof
volume in 2018. The expectation, however, is
fortimelyrainfalls,inquantitiesbigenoughfor
refilling the aquifer, relieving the farmers of in-
vestmentsinsearchofwatersecurity.
l
APPROVED AROUND THE WORLD
Brazilismorethanself-sufficientintheproductionofmelons.Exportsequallyinvolve
abigvolumeofthefruit.Currently,about60%ofthecropisdestinedfortheforeignmar-
ket, which makes it the most exported fruit when the criterion of production percent-
age is taken into consideration. According to the January 2018 overall balance from the
Statisticsof theBrazilianAgribusiness ForeignTrade (Agrostat), of theMinistryof Agricul-
ture,LivestockandFoodSupply(Mapa),in2017shipmentsofmelonsamountedto233.6
thousand tons, bringing in revenue of more thanUS$ 162.9million. Shipments were up
4%from2016,when224.6thousandtonswereshippedabroad,worthUS$148.7million.
Currently, the leading buyers of the Brazilian fruit are Britain, Holland and Spain,
but the domestic market also takes advantage of the good quality of the fruit. In the
past, there were big differences in taste because of the sugar content, once the best
fruit were exported. Now this no longer occurs. “Export type qualitymelons are equal-
lyavailable in thedomesticmarket. The farmers areplacingvalueon their brands, per-
forming accurate selection before attaching their tags. While the consumers are able
to identify the good fruit”, stresses the president of the Brazilian Fruit Growers and Ex-
porters Association (Abrafrutas), Luiz RobertoBarcelos.
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