Historically,
vegetable consumption in Brazil has remained low despite the fact that the
country is internationally recognized as an agricultural superpower. The
reasons for this apparent paradox are diverse and relatively difficult to
resolve. There are cultural reasons, but it is generally agreed that the high
cost of vegetables is one of the main causes of low consumption. Brazilian
population has already surpassed 200 million people and the average income of
the population has increased in recent years. Despite what was expected,
however, the average domestic consumption of vegetables in the country has
actually decreased.
Brazil is
the largest tropical country and, as such, presents a great variability of
climates and soils in its territory. Although greenhouse vegetable farming is
practiced from the subtropical Southern region to the hot and humid Amazon
region, the reasons why greenhouse horticulture is adopted may differ according
to latitude. The growing interest in greenhouse vegetable production is
associated with the increase in consumer income, the urbanization of Brazilian
population and the increasing concern about food safety, the use of chemical
pesticides and the possibility of increasing water and fertilizer use
efficiency.
The
intensive use of inputs and the great dependence on imports expose the
vulnerable side of Brazilian agriculture, making the development of systems and
practices that increase efficiency in the use of inputs urgent if the
sustainability of the vegetable value chain is a real priority. The already
mentioned increase in the average income of Brazilian population, the
Brazilian labor legislation and the competition with other economic activities
perceived as less strenuous have made the labor force for agriculture scarce
and expensive, which has created new challenges for agriculture. Agricultural
scientific research has been pressed to provide innovative solutions to these
challenges. The expansion of greenhouse agriculture is thought to be one of
those solutions.
The
perception that the increase in the frequency of extreme climatic events due to
global climate changes will greatly affect vegetable-producing areas is another
factor involved in intensifying the search for solutions in protected
cultivation. It is never too much to remember that unforeseen climatic events
can affect not only the productivity of vegetables, but their physical quality,
and the fact that the Brazilian consumer "buys vegetables with his
eyes" has already become proverbial.
The
concentration of greenhouse vegetable production around metropolitan areas,
which are the largest consumers of this type of produce, makes it possible to
reduce the distance between producing areas and consuming regions, favoring the
reduction of losses due to inadequate transport over long distances. It is a
known fact that vegetable post-harvest losses play an important role in
regulating supply and, consequently, vegetable prices in Brazil.
A factor
that has prevented the widespread adoption of the production of vegetables in
protected cultivation in Brazil is the high internal temperatures, mainly in
farms in the Midwest, Northeast and North Brazil, but also occasionally
Southeast and even in Southern Brazil, which are colder subtropical regions.
The adoption of temperature control techniques generally used in other regions
of the world, such as the use of air conditioning, comes up against the high
price of electricity that would inevitably lead to an increase in the cost of
production and in the price of vegetables. Considering that the average
domestic consumption of vegetables by Brazilians is around 27 kilograms per
person per year (in South Korea the average consumption is 170 kilograms per
inhabitant per year), it is clear that Brazilian greenhouse farmers have a
hard time adopting modern technology.
The
fundamental question of developing research solutions to reduce the internal
temperature in the protected environment remains. There are technical
solutions, mainly involving techniques and materials in the construction and
coverage of structures for protected cultivation, used in several countries to
control internal climatic variables, mainly temperature and light. These
techniques are still little known and even less used in Brazil, mainly due to
the lack of research and validation under tropical conditions. Along with the
development of technologies adapted to the Brazilian horticulturist, it is
urgent that the Brazilian population eat more vegetables and fruits.
De <https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/brazilian-agriculture-calls-greenhouse-revolution-italo-m-r-guedes/>