The national production of cereals, legumes and oilseeds (cotton seed, peanuts, rice, beans, castor bean, corn, soybeans, oats, rye, barley, sunflower, sorghum, wheat and triticale), may reach 134,522 million tons in 2005, surpassing in 12.96% the harvest of the previous year (119,085 million tons). All the Major Regions present a forecast of growth in the production in relation to 2004, especially the South (41.14%) and Central West Regions (34.47%).

The data comes from the January’s estimate for the harvest of 2005, forecasted by the IBGE by the Systematic Survey of Agricultural Production (LSPA). This estimate also includes some simulations mainly for the winter harvests (wheat, oats, rye and barley) and for the second and third harvests of some products, which still don’t have a first estimate of production, due to the agricultural calendar.

The regional distribution of production expected for 2005 of cereals, legumes and oilseeds is the following: South 55,343 million tons (41.14%); Central West 46,375 million tons (34.47%); Southeast 18,200 million tons (13.53%); Northeast 10,888 million tons (8.09%) and North 3,716 million tons (2.76%). In national level, all the Major Regions recorded increments in relation to the previous harvest: South (13.48%), Central West (16.32%), Southeast (3.17%), Northeast (16.03%) and North (8.53%).

Situation of crops in January of 2005 in relation to the obtained production of 2004

The Systematic Survey of Agricultural Production (LSPA) of January presents the first information, in national level, for the harvest of 2005. In this first estimate, the changes observed in comparison to the previous harvest of the main investigated products are the following: herbaceous seed cotton (5.06%), rice in husk (1.91%), beans in grain 1st harvest (22.79%), beans in grain 2nd harvest (2.40%), castor bean (10.29%), corn in grain 1st harvest (2.44%), soybeans in grain (28.30%) and sorghum in grain (1.01%).

Regarding the climatic and the agricultural sanitary conditions, the major influences are observed in Rio Grande do Sul and Mato Grosso. In the first one, due to the lack of raining, which took place in the beginning of December/04, there were serious damages to the agriculturists. The more significant damages occurred in the harvests of corn and beans (1^st). In Mato Grosso, one of the main producers of grains in the Country, the first one in soybeans, there is a forecast of losses in the productivity of this harvest, due to the appearance of a disease known as Asian rust verified in some places of the State. In the next reports these losses will be measured. The lack of rain in the main periods of the development of the harvest occasioned relevant losses in the production. With the exception of the Micro Region of Irecê (BA), which was already an important productive pole of beans, in the other producer states where the production of grains is more significant, the climatic condition is normal.