The Status of Operational Agrometeorology in Brazil

Transcription

1 The Status of Operational Agrometeorology in Brazil Prepared by Paulo Henrique Caramori, PhD, IAPAR and Dalziza de Oliveira, PhD, IAPAR Recent capacity building efforts in Agrometeorology have had positive impacts on Brazilian agriculture. We have made a survey on the status of operational agrometeorolgy in Brazil as a tool in decision making processes. Institutions and scientists maintaining networks of weather stations and generating agrometeorological products were consulted. This survey and an extensive search on the web revealed the existence of six centers supported by state governments, two supported by the federal government and two cooperatives of farmers currently operating weather station networks and generating related products with application in agriculture. Below we provide a brief description of this work. State-supported centers The following states support institutions that collect data and generate agrometeorological products. 1) State of São Paulo The Agronomic Institute of Campinas (IAC) through its Center of Integrated Information for Agriculture, CIIAGRO ( maintains a network of 28 mechanical and 40 automated weather stations. Data are collected twice a week by telephone from mechanical stations, and hourly by telephone activated modem from the automated stations. Specific software was developed to calculate water balance and generate maps of agrometeorological variables, which are made available at the CIIAGRO homepage. Other information, such as on the standardized precipitation index (SPI) and the Palmer drought index, for the state of São Paulo, is also available. 2) State of Parana The Agronomic Institute of Parana (IAPAR) ( and the Meteorological System of Parana (SIMEPAR) ( maintain a network of 32 conventional and 38 automated weather stations. Data are sent weekly by fax from conventional stations and transmitted hourly from automated stations through GOES satellite. Specific software is used to generate maps of meteorological variables and water balances for crops. Updates are made once a week at the IAPAR homepage. SIMEPAR issues daily updated regional forecasts, maps of temperature and rainfall and a monthly summary at its homepage. From May to 1

2 September, both institutions implement a frost-warning program. SIMEPAR issues frost forecasts and IAPAR advises and prepares the extension service and coffee farmers to adopt protective practices. 3) State of Santa Catarina The Agricultural Research Enterprise of Santa Catarina (EPAGRI), through its climate center CLIMERH ( administrates a network of 30 mechanical and 8 automated stations. Data transmission is made daily from mechanical stations using Internet and fax, and hourly from automated stations using telephone modem. The Center issues daily forecasts and special warnings for the state of Santa Catarina. Specific agrometeorological products are generated for costumers. This state also supports another center, at the Integrated Company for Agricultural Development of Santa Catarina (CIDASC), that maintains a network of 8 automated stations aimed at issuing warnings for diseases control in apple and peach orchards. Customized products for pest and diseases control are adjusted and advices are issued daily by TV, radio, fax, and telephone. So far information is not available through Internet. This is a pioneer warning system in Brazil, operating since ) State of Rio Grande do Sul The State Foundation for Agricultural Research (FEPAGRO) ( manages a network of 20 mechanical first class stations. The data are sent weekly by telephone, fax or , and monthly by mail. After quality control for consistency the data are stored in the software manager Access, and a monthly bulletin of agroclimatic conditions is issued to subscribers. 5) State of Goias The Meteorological System of Goias (SIMEGO) ( operates a network of automated stations with transmission by satellite. Data are made available to users through excel spreadsheets and utilized to generate water balances with the method of Thornthwaite & Matter. The results are interpolated and displayed on their Internet homepage. 6) State of Ceara The State Meteorological Foundation (FUNCEME) ( has a network of 8 automated stations with transmission via modem and satellite, and 536 pluviometric stations distributed over the state of Ceara, in the northeast of Brazil. Although there is no specific program on agrometeorology at FUNCEME, the information gives support to irrigation projects in the region and to subsistence agriculture, especially during years with severe drought when government support is required. 2

3 Federal Government Agencies The National Institute of Meteorology, INMET ( has a network of about 400 mechanical stations distributed over Brazil and is presently investing in automated stations. The stations are organized in ten regional districts. The data are sent to Brasilia where they are digitized and stored in a specific database. INMET generates the following products and services: daily forecasts by regions, special warnings about exceptional weather conditions, thematic maps of temperature, precipitation, evapotranspiration, water balance and climatic prognostics. The National Space Research Institute (INPE), through its Climate Center for Weather Forecast and Climate Prediction (CPTEC) ( maintains a network of 138 automated stations in Brazil. The data of the last 3 days are made public at their web page. CPTEC issues daily forecasts, provides satellite images and outputs of regional and global models of weather forecasts. Special warnings are issued on several events such as frost or climatic variability associated with the ENSO phenomenon. Private initiatives Agricultural cooperatives have made significant efforts in operational agrometeorology in Brazil. The following are good examples of successful programs. FUNDAÇÃO ABC ( This is a joint research center of three cooperatives in the state of Parana. Presently it operates a network of 4 automated stations and has plans to stimulate farmers to install stations to generate local information for precision farming. Data are transmitted daily and are associated with data from the state meteorological system (SIMEPAR) to monitor precipitation, temperature and water balance for 10 municipalities assisted by the cooperatives. The results are made available to the public at their web site. Agricultural Cooperative of Guaxupé, COOXUPÉ ( This cooperative operates a network of 5 automated stations in the state of Minas Gerais. The data are used to generate water balances and bulletins to support decision-making in the coffee farms of the cooperative members. The following information is made available via their home page: thermal conditions for coffee growth, percentage of hours with wind speed favorable to spray and irrigation, and percentage of hours with temperatures favorable to coffee diseases. 3

4 Institutions that maintain local stations generating agrometeorological products Several research centers of the Brazilian Enterprise of Agricultural Research (EMBRAPA), and Federal and State Universities also maintain mechanical or automated stations which are not part of networks of data collection. Those include: EMBRAPA: 12 stations in Brazil located in different research centers from the Amazonia to the state of Rio Grande do Sul. The data are used to monitor agricultural activities and in studies of climatic risks and yield forecasts. Federal and state Universities 14 stations in several locations in Brazil. The data are used for didactic applications and to support local and regional activities, including agriculture. Public and private institutions that generate agrometeorological products These are: CEPAGRI / UNICAMP CEPAGRI ( ) - This center reproduces thematic maps from CIIAGRO for the state of São Paulo and issues weather forecasts and information on crop zoning for Brazil. AGRITEMPO ( This is a virtual center coordinated by EMBRAPA and the University of Campinas (UNICAMP/CEPAGRI). It gathers data from all over Brazil, provides national information on crop zoning and monitors climatic conditions for agriculture, by state, displaying thematic maps using the same approach developed by CIIAGRO and CEPAGRI. CLIMATEMPO This is a private organization that issues meteorological forecasts and diagnostics for main crops in different regions in Brazil. Information is available at the site Remarks and conclusions Although significant progress has been achieved, there is a need for investments in important agricultural areas in Brazil that lack weather station networks as well as teams of agricultural meteorologists. The presented examples of successful institutions, databases, services and products should serve as starting points for regions where these are currently not available in Brazil or South America in general. It is also important to strengthen the teams in the centers currently operating. 4

5 In conclusion, operational agrometeorology has recently strongly developed in Brazil, but there is still much work to be done in order to optimize agricultural practices in the country as a whole. [Edited by Kees Stigter] A full version in Portuguese is available in the Revista Brasileira de Agrometeorologia (2002), Volume 10, Nr. 2, pp