35
Asprincipais
MAINVEGETABLES
Making
lifesweeter
n
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BiggercropinRioGrandedoSul suggeststhat thevolumeharvested
intheCountrymayhaveexceededthe600thousandtonsharvestedin2015
A
ware of the countless health
benefits of this vegetable, Bra-
zilians are consuming more
sweet potatoes. Annual de-
mand has been estimated at
600gramspercapita.Thisvolumeisstillvery
low, if compared to Uruguay, for example,
where consumption per capita reaches 5 ki-
lograms a year. Brazil produced almost 600
thousand tons of sweet potatoes in2015, ac-
cording to recent data released by the Bra-
zilian Institute of Geography and Statistics
(IBGE). This volume was up 70.1 thousand
tons fromthe525.8 thousand tonsproduced
in 2014. The planted area evolved 39.7 thou-
sandhectares in2014 to43.9 thousandhect-
ares in 2015. Average productivity remained
at 13.5 tons per hectare, higher than the 13.2
tons achieved in theprevious year.
“It is popular food and enjoyed by all
people throughout the Country, and ranks
as fourth most consumed vegetable by the
Brazilian population”, says agronomic engi-
neer Luis Antonio Suita de Castro, fromEm-
brapa Temperate Climate, based in Pelotas
(RS). In an attempt to find out the prefer-
ence of the Brazilian people, Embrapa con-
ducted tests that showed which sweet po-
tato cultivars were more common on the
dinner table, in the basic dry heat cook-
ing process. The preferred cultivars were
BRS Amélia and BRS Cuia. Only 10 cultivars
that are popular at the dinner table are reg-
istered in the Ministry of Agriculture, Live-
n
n
n
Bigger shipments
Another topic that suggests a bigger sweet potato crop is the result of shipments abroad in 2016. Shipments throughout the year
totaled 20.236 thousand tons and US$ 7.288 million. The results by far outstripped the amount negotiated in 2015: 1.828 thousand
tons and US$ 1.474 million, from figures released by the Secretariat of Foreign Trade (Secex), a division of the Ministry of Develop-
ment, Industry andForeignTrade (MDIC). Thedestination for themajority, 16.899 thousand tons, was Argentina. The remaining tons
were shipped toUruguay, theUnitedKingdom, Netherlands, Paraguay andPortugal. São Paulowas the leading exporter, with 4.749
thousand tons. The second biggest volume, 5.316 thousand tons, was exported by the State of Rio Grande do Sul.
stock and Food Supply (Mapa), limiting
farmers’ choices. All the cultivars registered
for the dinner table are supervised by Em-
brapa. Now, the most cultivated cultivars
are Beurregard (from the United States),
BRS-Amélia e BRS-Cuia.
Themajority of the sweet potatoproduc-
ing states harvested a bigger crop in 2015.
Rio Grande do Sul is still the leader, with a
crop of 166.35 thousand tons, on an area of
12.1mil hectares, according to theMunicipal
Agricultural Production (MAP) research, co-
ordinatedbytheIBGE.In2014,thefarmersin
Rio Grande do Sul harvested a smaller crop,
161.3 thousand tons. The second-biggest
result, significantly higher, was achieved by
São Paulo. In this State, from an area of 6.4
thousand hectares, 113.7 thousand tons
were harvested in 2015, way above the 74.9
thousand tons in the previous year. Minas
Gerais supplied 42.9 thousand tons in 2015,
up 13.2 thousand tons, progressing from
sixth to fourth biggest producer. The share
of the South region in 2015 amounted to
247.6 thousand tons.
The trend suggests that the vegeta-
ble made some progress in 2016. In Rio
Grande do Sul, for example, the sweet
potato crop may have reached a total of
167.8 thousand tons in 2016, according
to IBGE’s Systematic Agricultural Produc-
tion Survey (LISPA, in the Portuguese ac-
ronym). For 2017, the survey estimated
that the State would harvest 168.9 thou-
sand tons, up 6.6%. Average productivity
was projected at 13.4 tons per hectare in
2016, and at 13.9 tons in 2017, up 4%.
“Now, while Rio Grande do Sul is the
leader in production volume, productivity in
Mato Grosso is higher, three times as much
as the national average, and the credit goes
tohighertechnologyatfieldlevel”,saysagro-
nomic engineer LarissaVendrame, research-
er with Embrapa Vegetables, in Brasília (DF).
She also coordinates the sweet potato ge-
netic enhancement program.
ADOÇOU
SAFRASDEBATATA-DOCENOBRASIL
GOT SWEETER
Ano
Produção (mil t)
Área colhida (mil ha)
Produtividade (t/ha)
2011
544,8
43,8
12,4
2012
479,4
40,1
12,1
2013
505,3
39,3
13,0
2014
525,8
39,7
13,2
2015
595,9
43,9
13,5
Fonte:
IBGE.
