RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Ministry of Agriculture expects the gross value of agricultural production (GVaP) to reach R$603.4 billion (US$150.9 billion) this year.
This would be the second-highest value achieved by the agricultural sector over the past thirty years. The highest value achieved was R$607.9 billion in 2017.
According to estimates, the main crops represented R$399 billion, and livestock R$204.4 billion.
The federal government’s optimism is based on the performance of cotton crops, with an increase of 16.6 percent, peanuts (14.3 percent), bananas (20.5 percent), potatoes (117.8 percent), beans (64.9 percent), cocoa (1.9 percent), oranges (8.1 percent), castor bean (34.9 percent), corn (22.9 percent), tomato (19.6 percent) and wheat (8.2 percent).
In the livestock sector, the figures for chicken meat (13.4 percent) and pork (9.3 percent) are noteworthy, as well as beef, which increased by 1.3 percent.
Not all productive sectors, however, have performed well. Rice, coffee, sugarcane, cassava, soy, and grapes, accounting for 58 percent of domestic production, are yielding less than last year.
“These trends should persist until the end of the year because this year’s harvest is virtually complete,” said José Garcia Gasques, general coordinator of Policy Evaluation and Information, of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply’s Agricultural Policy Secretariat, in a statement issued by the ministry.