São Paulo – Brazilian alfalfa holds great promise when it comes to increasing output for supplying the domestic market, and over the long haul it could even get shipped to major buyer countries, among them Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt. Considered the best forage plant for dairy cattle and horses, and used as feed for sheep, goats, rodents and even pets and humans, alfalfa is not widely grown in Brazil, with most of it coming from family farmers. However, there is a great interest in growing more of it.
The biggest alfalfa producing country in Latin America is Argentina, with some 4 million hectares farmed. In Brazil, alfalfa plantations span only 40,000 hectares, primarily in the southern states of Rio Grande do Sul and Paraná. This is not yet enough to meet domestic demand.
Duarte Vilela, an agronomist and researcher with Embrapa Dairy Cattle, told ANBA that vast amounts of alfalfa seeds get imported to Brazil from California, USA and Argentina. “This is unfortunate, because we are perfectly capable to grow more of it and supply our own selves,” he said. Embrapa is the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation.
In southern Brazil, alfalfa gets sold mostly to horse and dairy cattle farms. “High performance dairy cattle, which produces 20 to 40 kilograms of milk a day, have high nutritional requirements, and alfalfa is the perfect feed for this type of cattle,” said Vilela.
Other uses for alfalfa are coming up in the cosmetics and pharmaceuticals agroindustry, including the use of alfalfa extracts, pills, and sprouts in making medicine and creams. “The whole world uses alfalfa to those ends. Alfalfa extract stimulates cellular activity and helps rejuvenate the skin,” he said.
Market
Serious water scarcity issues in Asian and Middle Eastern countries and a global hike in demand for animal-based protein have buoyed global trade in alfalfa hay and grasses in the last 20 years. In 2016, global demand for alfalfa hay was 6 million tons, with trade amounting to USD 2.7 billion.
The leading alfalfa producing countries are United States, European Union, Argentina, Russia, Canada and Australia, with 32 million hectares farmed between them. Alfalfa spans over 4 million hectares in Latin America – 4 million in Argentina, 170,000 in no Chile, 120,000 in Peru, 70,000 in Uruguay, and 40,000 hectares in Brazil.
The leading alfalfa importing countries are Saudi Arabia, the UAE, China, Japan and South Korea, which account for 84% of global demand between them. The biggest exporters are United States, Spain, Canada, Italy and France.
“There is great potential for the expansion of alfalfa in Brazil,” said Vilela. With irrigation, the forage can grow in Brazil’s Cerrado and semiarid areas. “In the long term, we’re in talks within the Matopiba area, which is a major producer of grains and cotton. They are looking at alfalfa from a commercial perspective. They have machinery and irrigation. Alfalfa can be an option for rotating crops, especially with maize and cotton,” he said.
Matopiba is the acronym for the junction of four Brazilian Cerrado states – Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí and Bahia, where the bulk of Brazil’s grains and fibers come from. The region boasts all of the necessary export infrastructure, including roads and machinery, Vilela said. This means the country could go into foreign markets competitively.
Arab countries
During a trip to Egypt, Brazil’s Agriculture minister Tereza Cristina met with government officials who express an interest in sourcing alfalfa from Brazil. “Egypt is expanding its dairy and beef cattle production, and (the minister) discussed the importance of using alfalfa as feed for large animals,” said Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce secretary-general Tamer Mansour, who traveled alongside minister Cristina.
“I believe there is still a lot of interest not only in Egypt, but also Saudi Arabia and Jordan,” he said. According to Mansour, Saudi Arabia is home to the biggest dairy cattle farm in the Middle East. Dairy cattle is also farmed in the UAE’s emirate of Fujairah. Saudi Arabia, Mansour said, imports alfalfa from Australia. “We need to change the mindset of Brazilian farmers. They must believe that what they grow will sell. They must embrace new products and figure out what the world needs,” he said.
Added value
Edison Machado de Oliveira is the owner of Alf Nutrição Animal, an 18-year-old animal nutrition company which processes alfalfa hay into powder and pellets. His family business is based in Roque Gonzales, in the Missões area of Rio Grande do sul near the Argentinean border.
According to him, the region has had a vocation for growing alfalfa for many years now. “We add value to the raw material that’s grown in the region by processing the alfalfa and selling it in ground form, as chaff, pellets and bundles,” Oliveira told ANBA over the phone.
Alfalfa pellets, which are small compressed alfalfa cylinders, offer numerous advantages. “They are easier to transport, they keep better and they are easier to dose out, which prevents wastage,” he said. Alfalfa in pellet form is roughly 80% more valuable than a bundle of alfalfa hay. It is a processed product with high added value.
Oliveira relies on a network of local suppliers. The alfalfa arrives for processing at his plant in bundles. His output capacity is not high, but he plans on expanding if he can find investors to support him.
“There is a medium-term opportunity here in our area. We are seeking investors, and we believe our business and product is an excellent investment opportunity for anyone with the means to do so. We are open to it, and we need a capital injection from some business or conglomerate so we can improve our infrastructure and production capacity,” he argued. Oliveira is also considering getting foreign investment from countries with a big demand.
“We have gotten some inquiries about shipping product to Arab countries, specifically Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi (UAE), but these talks did not move forward because they needed much more than we could supply,” said Oliveira.
He believes that a development policy must be put in place by Brazil’s government when it comes to alfalfa production in Brazil. “We need to enlarge the production chain and regularize regulate the market. We need a policy to develop alfalfa production just like other cultures, but generally speaking, since it doesn’t amount to much in terms of market, not much attention gets paid to it. However, demand for animal feed is going up and up these days, so the interest is beginning to pick up, precisely because it is a mobile, high-quality food,” he said.
Alf Nutrição Animal supplies feed to sheep, poultry, pork, rabbit and rodent farmers, as well as pet feed manufacturers. “Alfalfa has applications across the entire animal feed industry, provided that the proper formula is used,” he said.
Characteristics
Alfalfa is considered the best of all forage plants, with 18% to 26% crude protein content, nitrogen-fixing capabilities, low seasonality, eight to ten harvests per year, and a potential for 20 to 25 tons of dry matter per hectare each year.
According to André Brugnara, the general coordinator for animal production at the Secretariat for Innovation of the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply, alfalfa is the cultivar with the highest crude protein rate.
“It has really high content, and besides the quality of that protein is higher than that of grasses, and yield is also high, which is a very important variable. I would say that alfalfa is hard to beat when it comes to production of protein, and for feeding these herds, the cheapest protein is alfalfa, so massifying the use of alfalfa would be the way to go,” he said.
Publication
Duarte Vilela is about to release a manual on the multiple uses of alfalfa in Brazil and across Latin America. “My idea was to create a research and development network. We can export and add another item to our exports: hay, which we do not export at this time,” he said. The printing of the manual has been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
However, André Brugnara said at the time of closing this report that his office will support the printing of Vilela’s book. “It is the premier work on alfalfa farming ever in Brazil,” he said. There were plans to translate it into Spanish, so it could become available across Latin America, but for the time being the book will only come out in Brazilian Portuguese. Release is expected before the year is over.
“Latin America could get a head start by embracing alfalfa as a pillar of expansion of its agrofood and agroindustry system, so long as it builds research, development and technological innovation networks,” Vilela argues in his book.
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
