In theory, weather conditions are favor-
able, considering that, by nature, vegetables
are alluring for their health properties en-
couraging consumption. However, the real
climatic conditions have not been appropri-
ate over the past years and, in the meantime,
the economic downturn and the overall sce-
nario have not been advantageous, affecting
the production of the sector in Brazil. The
area devoted to the crops has been reced-
ing almost all the time, resulting into smaller
production volumes, although productivity,
with the use of technology, has registered
advances, if longer periods are considered.
The latest figures released by Embrapa
Vegetables, based on official numbers pub-
lished in 2014, point to smaller planted ar-
eas devoted to 32 crops, compared to the
two previous years, with smaller production
volumes compared to 2013. In the mean-
time, productivity per area soared over the
past two years, from 23.5 to 24.3 tons per
hectare. A similar situation is occurring with
cassava, a crop of great expression and in-
cluded in the realm of olericulture plants in
the present publication, either destined for
the dinner table or for industrial purposes.
Monthly projections by the so-called Sys-
tematic Survey of Agricultural Production
(LSPA, in the Portuguese acronym), of the
Climate
woes
Climate conditions and economic environment
adversely affect Brazilian vegetable crops, which,
although in great demand, are shrinking in size
Inor Ag. Assmann
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