Corn production for the second harvest is expected to fall by 14% in Mato Grosso do Sul. The Aprosoja/MS estimate released on Tuesday, 24, points to a total of 11.485 million tons; 2.218 million hectares, down 6% and 86.3 bags/hectare, down 19.23% on the previous harvest.

The president of Aprosoja/MS, Jorge Michelc, explains that "with a possible delay in the end of the soybean cycle, there may be a reduction in the corn planting window. Despite this, the technical advice is for producers to avoid late planting, in order to mitigate productivity losses due to climate-related factors and the incidence of insect pests, such as leafhoppers".

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock's (MAPA) Agricultural Climate Risk Zoning (ZARC), the cereal planting period runs until March 31st. In Mato Grosso do Sul, based on the history of environmental conditions, the technical department of Aprosoja/MS points out that the best window for planting is between January 13 and March 10, when approximately 70% of the areas will be planted.

Planting

With an advance of 1.8 percentage points compared to the same period last year, corn planting began on January 12 and has reached around 40,000 hectares, equivalent to 2% of the total estimated area. The central region is planting the most, with an average of 2.3%, while the south and north are averaging 1.7% each.