Financial Impact of Irrigation and Nitrogen: Topdressing in Rural Enterprises of Sugarcane in Uruaçu, Brazil

Abstract

The success of a project depends on a good planning of activities focused on increasing yield and minimizing production costs. The objective of the present work was to assess the economic viability of irrigated sugarcane crops (plant crop and ratoon crop) under nitrogen topdressing, in northern state of Goiás (GO), Brazil. The data needed for the research were obtained in a sugarcane crop area in the Estrela do Lago Farm, which belongs to the Uruaçu industry, in the municipality of Uruaçu, GO. The CTC4 sugarcane variety was used, which has high tillering and yield, and great adaptability to mechanized planting and harvest. The sugarcane was planted in double rows spaced 1.80 m apart. The total nitrogen topdressing rate (100 Kg ha-1) was divided into three applications with 60-day intervals during the crop development. The costs were obtained based on the following items: mechanized operations; manual operations; consumed material, and other expenses. The production cost was calculated using the total production operational cost structure used by the Brazilian Institute of Agricultural Economy. The highest costs for sugarcane in plant crop, with and without nitrogen topdressing, are due to mechanized operations and consumed material, which reached approximately 60% of the costs.

A Competitiveness Index of Soil Tillage and Planting Among Sugarcane Mills and Suppliers: The Benefits of Cost Reduction and High Production Strategies

“…In respect to the costs of soil preparation, there were also no significant differences between SCMs (2.38) and SCSs (2.33). Therefore, the success of a rural property with sugarcane depends on good planning of activities focused on increasing yield and minimizing (Cunha & Pasqualetto, 2020;De Amorim et al, 2020). Finally, for planting costs, mills are more competitive than suppliers at 2.45 and 2.03, respectively ( The relative frequency graph SCS of the simulation regarding competitiveness indexes showed that the range between 2.27 and 2.35 contains the average indexes with a certainty level of 77.5% (Figure 1a), for suppliers with a 2.32 competitiveness index.…”

“…Brazilian agricultural commodities are relevant in the economic context, providing a positive economic and social performance for society (through job creation, for example). In this context, sugar (a by-product of sugarcane) has a competitive advantage in exports, being on the rise in the international trade market (Cunha & Pasqualetto, 2020;Sossa & Duarte, 2019). This competitiveness had a significant boost with the modernization of the sugar-energy sector since 1973.…”

“…In this sense, the factors supporting the Brazilian competitiveness in sugarcane production are: the productivity per hectare, which is related to edaphoclimatic factors, the intense technological developments, the cost reduction, and the cultural practices in the sugarcane production cycle, that is soil tillage and sugarcane planting system (Cunha & Pasqualetto, 2020;Huang, Khan, Perecin, Coelho, & Zhang, 2020;Sossa & Duarte, 2019). Furthermore, the improvement of sugarcane varieties (Huang et al, 2020), as well as the practice of soil tillage, are important processes in agricultural production (Cortez, Missio, Barreto, Silva, & Reis, 2016;De Amorim, Patino, Bartmeyer, & Santos, 2020).…”