Developments in the Brazilian Cotton to Attend the Industry Needs Robson de Macêdo Vieira, Ministry of Agriculture, Natal-RN, Brazil Napoleão Esberard de M. Beltrão, Embrapa-Algodão, Campina Grande-PB, Brasil Aldo Arnaldo de Medeiros, Embrapa-Emparn, Natal-RN, Brasil Introduction Cotton is considered the world s most valuable and preferred natural fiber, used in almost half of all textiles. In Brazil, it has been an important cash crop, and its exploration, with ups and downs for over a century, has influenced positively on the economic and social development of the country. During the last decade, under the impact of intensive research and development efforts, the cotton scenario has undergone radical changes, particularly in the Brazilian savanna, known as the Cerrado region in the central part of Brazil to where, most of the cotton areas from the South and Northeast regions moved. Currently, nearly 80% of the cultivated area and 85% of the cotton production in Brazil, is in the Cerrados. There, a modern and competitive cotton industry, has flourished and even though, still quite young, is one of the world leaders in terms of yield and fiber quality. Although this region produces high yields (around 1.151kg/ha of lint) and fairly good fiber quality, the cost of production has increased to levels (around US$ 1.100,00/hectare) which are threatening the economics of cotton production. Cost of production, obviously, varies somewhat from region to region, but that figure is an adequate estimate of the average cost of production across the Cerrado areas. In the Cerrado, the natural fertility of the soils is very poor, and cotton production is generally characterized by high input use in the form of soil correctors, fertilizers, insecticides and herbicides. Crops are sprayed at least 15 times during normal years, mainly against aphids, boll weevil, spodoptera frugiperda, and heliothis complex. At present, insecticides represent up to 20% of production costs. Today, one of the main agronomic issue affecting Brazilian growers, is the increasing resistance of insects to conventional insecticides. Large volume of chemicals is being used on cotton crops, and it has begun to show signs of ineffectiveness against some pests. This has not only led to an increase in the use of conventional insecticides, but also has resulted in escalating production costs. Currently, the most commonly occurring and damage causing diseases of cotton in the Cerrado areas are Witches Broom caused by Colletotrichum
gossipii (South) var. cephalosporioides; Leaf-Rib Mosaic, Ribeirão Bonito form, which is a viral disease transmitted by Aphis gossypii also known as Blue Disease, and Ramularia spot caused by the Ramularia areola fungus. Other diseases of less significant importance are seedling rot, boll rot and leaf spot. Witches Broom has increased in recent years to the point where in certain areas it is almost uneconomical to grow cotton due to the yield loss associated with plant mortality. According to ICAC, the production of cotton in the Brazilian Cerrados has maintained, during the last ten years, one of the highest yield gains in the world (208kg/ha/year of seedcotton), and has today, one of the five highest yield (over 1.151kg/ha of lint) among the major cotton producing countries. The necessity of being competitive and the high level of quality demanded by the domestic and international market, required Brazil to modernize its production, harvesting, ginning and classing equipments. Today, in nearly 80% of the cotton area, cultivation practices and harvesting are fully mechanized while new ginning equipments has replaced old ones and over 80% of all cotton is classed by HVI instruments. Considerable progress has been made by the Brazilian research in the past two decades in breeding cotton for high yield and good fiber quality (table 1). Nevertheless all the benefits that this flourishing cotton industry has made, it has in some case, generated high costs in natural resources, in energy, in environmental quality. In the 2001/2002 season, the domestic average price received by farmers was around 30.32 reais/kg, or 36.6 US cents/lb of lint. Despite of that, cotton growing in Brazil continues to be a profitable alternative to many other crops even in irrigated areas. Brazilian Cotton Scene Evidences of the potential of Brazil as an important cotton producer is unquestionable and has greatly increased during the last few years. Besides the significant gains in yield and fiber quality taken so far, the country has built a fairly large cultivated area and a modern and competitive textile industry. In 1980, the cultivated area totaled nearly 3.5 million hectares declining in 1995 to less than 700 thousands hectares. At present, it is estimated at 739 thousands hectares. Practically 80% of this area is in the Cerrados and only 20% in others regions. Of the top five states that planted more than 500.000 hectares in the 2002/2003 season, Mato Grosso has by far the largest area (287.800 ha) followed by the Goias (91.7000 ha), Bahia (77.900 ha), São Paulo (55.200 ha) and Mato Grosso do Sul (46.800ha) (table 2).
This expansion that occurred in the Brazilian cotton production, over the last ten years, following a period of production declines, suffered an interruption in the 2001/2002 season. Price retractions, both in the domestic and international market, brought about by higher world production and the attractive price for soybeans, led the country to reduce its cotton producing area by 14% in 2001/02 (fig. 1). With the reduction in the planting area, the volume of cotton harvested went down in about the same proportion in the season (fig. 2 ). In 2002/03, the situation was somewhat different: the planted area declined slightly (fig.1) but lint production rose by near 10% (fig.2). In a dry country like Brazil, dependent on rains for the moisture necessary to make a cotton crop, increasing yields is, of course, not an easy task. However, the Brazilian cotton grower significantly enhanced his production efficiency by increasing yields. While the cultivated area was reduced from 1.277 to 739 thousands hectares (fig.1) in the last 10 years, lint production jumped from 420 to 851 thousand tons (fig.2) over two times what it was in the early 1990s. Over this period, lint production increased around 43 thousands tons per year, and the average cotton grower produced in 2002/03 season, more 431kg/ha of lint than he used to produce 10 years ago. This has occurred primarily because of the role played by research and development institutions in overcoming limitations and making available to the growers the varieties that not only have longer and stronger fibers but also high yields. Today, cotton growers are employing better production practices to control water, fertilizer, insects and plant diseases, which has resulted in less stressed cotton plant and consequently more yield. More producers are putting their harvested seedcotton into modules which has allowed them, to harvest their crop in a timely way when it is at its peak quality. Further, careful attention has been paid to ginning, so that the quality is maintained through the ginning process. This steady increase in the efficiency of Brazilian cotton production, has not been only good for cotton growers, but it has been also good for textile spinners because it has assured them a reliable source of raw cotton at reasonable prices. In terms of production, in the 2002/2003 season, the top 5 cotton states are listed in table 2 along with corresponding production data. Collectively they produced nearly 85% of the Brazilian cotton. Mato Grosso with a lint yield of 1.375 kg/ha and a total production of 395.600 tons is the top cotton producer. Brazil has a vast and competitive textile industry which, by necessity, has to be guaranteed a supply to satisfy its own consumption requirements. According to CONAB (Brazilian Supplying Company) the total consumption of cotton in Brazil in 2002 was approximately 805.000 tons, and the internal
production has been the main source of demand for most of the cotton consumed in the country. Compared with production of 851.000 tons, consumption in 2003 is expected to be 720.000 tons a decrease of 85.000 tons in relation to 2002. In both social and economic terms, the cotton industry is the leading component and an undeniable vital part of the Brazilian textile sector. In 2001, it directly employed equivalent of 1.45 million people, exported around US$ 1.306 billion and had a total revenue of US$ 22 billion. Development of New Varieties As it can be seen from Table 1, all commercially cultivated cotton varieties in Brazil are based on the Gossypium hirsutum L. species, although they differ considerably in a number of characteristics. The process of variety development or selection, is a fairly integrated approach which caters to the needs of the growers and also the spinners. At present, the priority objective aims at producing individuals with high yields and superior-quality fibers plus resistance to both diseases and pests in the Cerrado region, and earliness in the other regions. Varieties are bred through conventional and modern breeding methods and the process of approval to release any promising strain or variety for commercial cultivation, is based on multi-year and location trials conducted by private and government institution under the coordination of Embrapa. Presently varieties in commercial cultivation have been developed mainly by the Embrapa system; by the States Research Institutes, by the Cotton Research and Development Foundations, and by Private Companies. Embrapa bred varieties are estimated to be grown on about 50% of the total cotton cultivated area. Nearly 10 new cotton varieties (table 1) which exhibit high yield potential and improved fiber properties were released to cotton growers in the 2002/2003 season. Improvements in Fiber Quality During the last few years, strong international competition for better fiber quality and changes in consumption pattern, and more importantly, changes in fashion, has led to a rapid technical development in textile machinery which has become highly automated and consequently, has placed strong demands on cotton fiber quality as a raw material. To respond to this demands a collective effort from all segments of the cotton industry have been put into practice, so that, significant progress regarding fiber quality in the Brazilian cotton germplasm, has paralleled the fiber requirements for new spinning systems and market demands.
Strength. During the last years, stronger fibers has become a priority objective for cotton breeders in Brazil. As a consequence, progressive increases in fiber strength has been obtained with each variety development. Figure 3 gives the average high volume instrument (HVI) strength for each crop since 1993/94 when the national average for strength was 23.70 gf/tex. The figures shows that the national average increased at the rate of 0.68gf/tex per year over the nine years period. Because climate conditions and varieties, vary across the cotton growing region of Brazil, not all areas have experienced the same rate of increase. Strength is not the only criteria that determine the performance of a given cotton. Other important characteristics include fiber length, micronaire, and length uniformity. Length. In Brazil, for many years, cotton breeders concentrated their efforts on the improvement of fiber length. Consequently, the level of length reached so far is rather sufficient for normal uses so that, modern spinning machines are suited to the commercial lengths available. Figure 4 gives the national mean length trend for each crop since 1993/94, showing a small but consistent increase in the length during the time period. Micronaire. The graph in Figure 5 shows that the average micronaire of the Brazilian cotton was relatively low and remained fairly stable, varying only from 3.29 to 4.04µg/in in the time period. The micronaire index has been over 4.0µg/in only once (2000/01) and below 4.0 five times (1996/97, 1997/98, 1998/99, 1999/00 and 2001/02). The lower-than-normal 3.29 µg/in average micronaire for the 1996/97 crop was due to the fact that it was an unusually immature crop. Today a priority objective for cotton breeders in Brazil is the development of varieties with low micronaire and fine mature fibers. Length Uniformity. Figure 6 shows that the average length uniformity index of Brazilian cotton has remained fairly constant during the 1993/94 to 2001/02 period. Over the last ten years the Brazilian cotton grower has been very progressive making a great effort to ensure the production of the fiber the spinners needs. From the previously discussed figures it can be recognized that significant improvements have been made, particularly in fiber strength and length which got stronger and longer, while micronaire and length uniformity remained fairly suitable and stable in level. Further developments in cotton fiber production and quality can be expected to be achieved to furnish the market with the fiber that is needed. This all means that the Brazilian cotton growers are meeting the needs of spinners for improved fiber qualities.
Table 1. Characteristics of Brazilian Cotton Varieties Seedcotton Yield (Kg/Ha) Fiber Percent (%) Strength Gf/Tex 2,5% Spanlength Micronaire (µ/in) Variety (mm) BRS Aroeira 5.500 38,0 28,0 29,4 4,1 BRS Ita 90-2 6.000 38,0 30,0 29,1 3,9 BRS Sucupira 4.500 38,0 30,0 30,4 3,9 BRS Cedro 6.700 40,0 28,3 30,0 4,3 Epamig p1 3.000 39,0 22,5 28,0 4,2 IAC-23 2.500 40,0 27,2 28,0 4,3 IPR-94 5.000 38,0 28,6 29.5 4,4 CD 406 4.500 40,4 29,2 29,8 3,8 CD 407 4.500 40,0 29,2 30,1 4,0 Source : CONAB Table 2. Top Cotton Producing States (2002/03 season) State Area (Ha) Lint Production(1.000 tons) Mato Grosso 287,8 395,6 Goias 91,7 107,7 Bahia 77,9 87,7 Mato G. do Sul 46,8 66,7 São Paulo 55,2 55,1 Parana 43,0 24,7 Minas Gerais 38,7 29,6 OTHERS 98,1 78.9 Brazil 739,0 851,0 Source : CONAB
2000 FIGURE 1. COTTON AREA TREN 1800 1000 HECTARES 1600 1400 1200 1000 800 600 1277 1238 1228 953 880 868 824 748 739 694 657 92/93 93/94 94/95 95/96 96/97 97/98 98/99 99/00 00/01 01/02 02/03 Source : CONAB FIGURA 2. LINT PRODUCTION TREN 1000 TONS 1000 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 938,8 851,0 766,2 700,3 537,1 520,1 483,9 420,3 410 411 305,8 92/93 93/94 94/95 95/96 96/97 97/98 98/99 99/00 00/01 01/02 02/03 Source : CONAB
GRAMS FORCE/TEX 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23,7 28,54 FIGURE 3. STRENGTH TREN 29,9 29,57 29,56 27,48 28,04 28,98 29,82 23 22 93/94 94/95 95/96 96/97 97/98 98/99 99/00 00/01 01/02 Source: BMF 30 FIGURE 4. LENGTH TREN 29,5 MILIMETERS 29 28,5 28 27,5 27 27,25 28,37 27,84 28,29 28,01 28,36 27,9 28,43 28,76 26,5 26 93/94 94/95 95/96 96/97 97/98 98/99 99/00 00/01 01/02 Source : BMF
5 FIGURE 5. MICRONAIRE TREN MICRONAIRE/INDEX( µg/in) 4,5 4 3,5 4 3,29 3,69 3,88 3,71 4,04 3,9 3 95/96 96/97 97/98 98/99 99/00 00/01 01/02 Source : BMF 90 FIGURE 6. LENGTH UNIFORMITY INDE PERCENT UNIFORMITY 85 80 75 79,68 82,14 81,2 82,16 81,93 82,23 81,24 81,3 81,31 70 93/94 94/95 95/96 96/97 97/98 98/99 99/00 00/01 01/02 Source : BMF