Drought causes losses exceeding R$ 6 billion.
Crop losses in Northeast Brazil caused by the worst drought in 50 years, affecting nearly 1,5 municipalities and more than ten million people, have reached R$ 3,6 billion in just the ten main crops cultivated in the region; according to IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), if the number of cattle lost due to the drought is included, the losses jump to R$ 6,8 billion; the job losses are also the lowest in the last ten years, and worse: the drought is expected to extend until the second half of the year, possibly lasting until February 2014.
PE247 – Crop losses in Northeast Brazil caused by the worst drought in 50 years, affecting nearly 1,5 municipalities and more than ten million people, reach R$ 3,6 billion, considering the ten main crops cultivated in the region. The employment balance has reached its lowest level in the last ten years, and worse: the drought is expected to extend until the second half of the year, possibly reaching as late as February 2014. According to the chief economist of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), Aldemir Freire, if the number of cattle lost due to the drought is included, the losses reach R$ 6,8 billion. The estimate is that the herd will suffer a reduction of 16,3%, from 29,6 million head in 2011, according to Pedro Gama of Embrapa Semiárido.
The R$ 3,6 billion shortfall refers to the crops of beans, rice, cashew nuts, corn, cotton, bananas, sugar cane, cassava, soybeans and coffee. According to a survey by IBGE, commissioned by the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo and published this Sunday (5), the biggest losses occurred in corn plantations comparing 2012 with 2011 (R$ 961 million) and corn (R$ 532 million). The loss is equivalent, for example, to almost half the value of the transposition of the São Francisco River, budgeted at R$ 8,2 billion.
“Even if we take the prices from 2012 (when inflation accelerated due to crop losses), we would have losses exceeding R$ 2 billion,” declared Aldemir Freire. Ceará, for example, is one of the states most affected by the drought. In that state, 96% of the municipalities are in a state of emergency. Agricultural production declined from 1,9 million tons to 230 tons. Only 30% of the areas suitable for planting are currently being cultivated.
Ao Pernambuco 247The Sugar and Alcohol Industries Union (Sindaçúcar-PE) reported that, in the case of sugarcane, for example, 13.149.783 tons were produced in the state during the 2012/2013 harvest (September/March), a 24,5% decrease compared to the 2011/2012 harvest, when 17.515.890 tons were produced. Consequently, ethanol production was also affected, falling from 357.606 cubic meters (m³) to 265.219 m³.
Regarding job creation in the Northeastern agricultural sector, the IBGE survey indicated that 13 formal jobs were created in the sector in 2011, while last year there was a deficit of 18 jobs, a record for this decade. Furthermore, 244.825 workers were linked to the sector in 2012, but in March of this year, 223.640 jobs associated with the agricultural sector were counted. "Mechanization in farming and other factors eliminate jobs, but drought is largely responsible for the layoffs," declared the director of the National Confederation of Agricultural Workers, Antoninho Rovaris, to Folha de S. Paulo.