{"id":367146,"date":"2024-05-24T13:07:05","date_gmt":"2024-05-24T16:07:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/?p=367146"},"modified":"2024-06-06T16:27:18","modified_gmt":"2024-06-06T19:27:18","slug":"brazils-sao-francisco-valley-fertile-ground-for-exports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/brazils-sao-francisco-valley-fertile-ground-for-exports\/","title":{"rendered":"S\u00e3o Francisco Valley: Fertile ground for exports"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Juazeiro \u2013 Nonfibrous mango to eat with a spoon and sweet, seedless grapes are the most conspicuous results from investments that have been made in the S\u00e3o Francisco Valley in the Brazilian semi-arid region, a fruit production and export hub for the entire world. Over an area of 35,000 kilometers square, fruits are produced over acres and acres of cultures that aren\u2019t native to that region, which is only made possible by a technological breakthrough that arrived in the \u201970s \u2013 the river\u2019s water harvesting for irrigation.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Lira
Lira (L) and Miranda: Productivity gains from irrigation projects<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

This irrigation is a project by the S\u00e3o Francisco and Parna\u00edba Valley Development Company (Codevasf<\/a>), a government corporation that found this technology the best way to bring about the region\u2019s agricultural development. That is what allows the water to reach a semi-arid region with low annual rainfall. \u201cIf we had to sum up the region\u2019s transformation, it\u2019s based on science and technology, as we\u2019re in an extremely challenging environment,\u201d says Bahia\u2019s Agriculture and Livestock Federation (FAEB) chairman Humberto Miranda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Water is harvested by pressurization and taken to a main canal that supply a network of secondary canals. The irrigation reaches the plants via dripping. In some cases, the irrigation is done via sprinklers, but this model of water consumption causes more evaporation loss. One of the irrigation districts, Senador Nilo Pe\u00e7anha, comprehends the cities of Casa Nova, Bahia state, and Petrolina, Pernambuco state, in the lower middle region of the S\u00e3o Francisco River. It irrigates a total area of 18,600 hectares starting from Lago de Sobradinho.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mangoes and grapes<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Starting in the 70s, investors and entrepreneurs from Brazil\u2019s northeast, south and southeast regions and even from Japan started banking mostly on two fruit crops that otherwise don\u2019t belong to this landscape \u2013 mangoes and grapes thrive in an environment surrounded by cacti, bromelias, umbu trees, carnaubas, and other native species of the caatinga.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Mangoes:
Mangoes: 90% of the local production is exported<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The region known as the S\u00e3o Francisco Valley comprises four municipalities in Pernambuco state \u2013 Santa Maria da Boa Vista, Lagoa Grande, Oroc\u00f3, and Petrolina \u2013 and four in Bahia \u2013 Juazeiro, Casa Nova, Sobradinho, and Cura\u00e7\u00e1. These are just two of the five Brazilian states where the S\u00e3o Francisco River goes through. It rises in Minas Gerais and falls on the Atlantic Ocean between Sergipe and Alagoas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to data from the National Confederation of Agriculture (CNA<\/a>), in 2022 municipalities Juazeiro and Petrolina produced approximately 600,000 tonnes of mangoes and 300,000 tonnes of grapes, particularly table grape, although the semi-arid region also grows wine grapes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Japan to UAE, via Brazil\u2019s Sert\u00e3o<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bronzed mangoes to suit taste of consumers<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new frontier of Miolo in northeast Brazil<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fruits: Brazil grows many but exports few<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ninety percent of these mangoes and 98% of these grapes are exported. In both cases, genetic improvements developed by the United States resulted in sweeter cultivars with traits that please consumers like Tommy, Kent, Keitt and Palmer mangoes, and Vit\u00f3ria grapes. Mangoes and grapes are prevalent in the region, farmers say, because they adapted better, but there are also lime, pear, watermelon, guava and other crops. Forty percent of the total planted area in the S\u00e3o Francisco Valley grows mangoes, 20% table grapes, and 40% other crops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the S\u00e3o Francisco River to the UAE<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Exporting comes after a long productive process that was only made possible by harvesting the river\u2019s water to irrigate the semi-arid region. And the results are bountiful: 95% of the exports are shipped by sea from ports in Salvador, Bahia state, and Pec\u00e9m, Cear\u00e1 state. The remaining 5% are dispatched by air mostly via airports in Campinas and Guarulhos, S\u00e3o Paulo state. This is the leading route taking fruits from the S\u00e3o Francisco Valley to Arab countries.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"S\u00e3o
S\u00e3o Francisco River: Its waters make crops in Petrolina, Juazeiro and neighboring cities possible<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The leading client of grapes and particularly mangoes in the Middle East and North Africa is currently the United Arab Emirates \u2013 according to CNA, in 2023 Brazil exported USD 572,100 worth of fresh mangoes to the UAE, of which USD 317,400 came from Bahia and Pernambuco states. Fresh grape exports from Brazil to the Arab countries added up to USD 672,300, with USD 150,9000 coming from these states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Air is the leading shipping method to the Arab countries, as the maritime route takes approximately 40 days, which impacts the quality of the fruit. There are also indirect exports via trading posts like the Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Egypt is also a market receiving Brazilian fruits but in smaller amount.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSometimes a cargo plane from S\u00e3o Paulo lands here. When this happens, we can ship fruits from Petrolina, but that\u2019s not the rule,\u201d said Petrolina\u2019s Farmers Union president Jailson Lira.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The journalist traveled by the invitation of CNA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Translated by Guilherme Miranda<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rafael Vieira\/Supplied CNA<\/div>
Rafael Vieira\/Supplied CNA<\/div>
Rafael Vieira\/Supplied CNA<\/div>
Marcos Carrieri\/ANBA<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ANBA starts this Friday (24) a series of reports showing the changes that Brazil\u2019s S\u00e3o Francisco Valley has experienced and the export process of fruits from the country\u2019s semi-arid region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2317,"featured_media":366985,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[102,92],"tags":[32886,48743,26760,48455,28575,2188,4641,6454,38824,9987,27288,6453,49513,13568,2650,27289],"class_list":{"0":"post-367146","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-agribusiness","8":"category-special-reports","9":"tag-bahia-en-2","10":"tag-codevasf","11":"tag-egito-en-2","12":"tag-egypt-2","13":"tag-emirados-arabes-unidos-en","14":"tag-export","15":"tag-exportacao-en","16":"tag-grape","17":"tag-irrigacao-en-2","18":"tag-irrigation","19":"tag-manga-en","20":"tag-mango","21":"tag-sao-francisco-valley","22":"tag-semi-arid","23":"tag-united-arab-emirates","24":"tag-uva-2-en"},"wps_subtitle":"ANBA starts this Friday (24) a series of reports showing the changes that Brazil\u2019s S\u00e3o Francisco Valley has experienced and the export process of fruits from the country\u2019s semi-arid region.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2317"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}