The macaúba.
Adapting a tree that is native to Brazil’s biodiversity for commercial planting is no easy task. It is no accident then that S.Oleum – a company dedicated to the large-scale production of sustainable, carbon negative feedstocks – has been investing in R&D to further optimize the germination of the macaúba seed, the production of saplings, and the management of the species in the field.
At the end of last year, the Ministry of Agriculture published Ordinance n° 691 (and also opened a public inquiry on the matter), concerning the directives and requirements for the registration of agricultural pesticides for so-called ‘minor crops’, or in other words, those occupying a smaller planted area compared to soybean and corn. This was an opportunity to request the registration of products for the macaúba, an essential step forward for the large-scale production of macaúba.
In parallel with this, the National Agricultural Climate Risk Zoning Program (ZARC), a public policy which, by means of soil recognition, plant physiology and plant phenology, reduces the investment risk in farming in Brazil. The ZARC provides guidelines for those institutions that work with rural insurance and agricultural credit to be able to understand whether the area in question is of low risk or high risk for a specific crop.
Embrapa is responsible for the technical studies involved in the ZARC, which is constantly being updated. At present, the institution is developing the ZARC in relation to the macaúba, which had not previously existed. “This is one more step towards the crop gaining scale and becoming a Brazilian agribusiness crop,” explains Simone Fávaro, a researcher with Embrapa Agroenergia.
The ZARC guides the public policies on access to agricultural credit and rural insurance, whilst providing the funding agents with security and driving new technologies.
In parallel with this, S.Oleum is celebrating the Action Plan for Prevention and Control of Deforestation and Burning in the Cerrado Biome (PPCerrado), which is also under development. Moreover, S.Oleum is aiming to become a vector for the restoration of the Cerrado biome through the planting of 180,000 hectares of macaúba in damaged or low-yield areas as part of an Integrated Crop-Livestock-Forestry (ILPF) system, a form of planting that promotes the restoration of the ecosystem.
#S.Oleum #macauba #minorcrops #cerradorestoration
