IBGE carried out, in March, the third evaluation of the national agricultural production for 2006. According to the Systematic Survey of Agricultural Production, the expected production of cereals, legumes and oilseeds (cotton seed, peanuts, rice, beans, castor beans, corn, soybeans, oats, rye, barley, sunflower seeds, sorghum, wheat and triticale) in 2006 is 121,970 million tons, 1.58% less than in February (123,933 million tons) and 8.46% more than in 2005 (112,454 million tons). Concerning the area planted in 2006, there has been reduction of 2.84% in relation to 2005, resulting in 46,427 million hectares. Among the products surveyed, soybeans and 1^st harvest corn are the most representative items in terms of planted area, covering 22 million and 9,4 million hectares, respectively.

By Major Region, in absolute figures, the production of cereals, legumes and oilseeds is distributed as follows: South Region, 51,252 million tons; Central West , 40,978 million tons; Southeast, 16, 288 million tons; Northeast, 9,830 million tons and North Region, 3,622 million tons.

Among the main products, there has been increase of the production of 1^st and 2^nd harvest beans, of 1^st and 2^nd harvest corn, and of soybeans. The latter has been recovering from the damages of 2005, which occurred due to a long dry period, especially in the South and Central West regions. On the other hand, there was loss of herbaceous seed cotton, rice in husk, castor beans and sorghum in grain.

This new survey, when compared to the one released in February, points to fall by 2,1 million tons, especially of the soybean crops, with less 1,2 million tons. In terms of 1^st harvest corn, there was fall by 446 thousand tons, of sorghum, 138 thousand tons, of first harvest beans, of 133 thousand tons, of rice, of 130 thousand tons.

Production of coffee in grain, sugar cane and grain corn may grow in 2006 

Among the main products investigated by the LSPA, the ones with positive change in estimates for 2006 compared to 2005 figures were: 2^nd harvest potatoes (5.54%), coffee in grain (18.92%), sugar cane (4.85%), onions (7.64%), barley in grain (12.06%), 1^st harvest beans (10.66%), 2^nd harvest beans (14.60%), oranges (2.63%), cassava (3.32%), 1^st harvest grain corn (18.52%), 2^nd harvest grain corn (25.00%), soybeans in grain (9.29%), wheat in grain (4.39%) and triticale (2.93%). The change is negative concerning herbaceous seed cotton (-21.91%), 1^st harvest peanuts in husk (-5.95%), 2^nd harvest peanuts in husk (-13.78%), rice in husk (-15.63%), oats in grain (-2.34%), 1^st harvest potatoes (-7.54%), 3^rd harvest potatoes (-15.73%), cocoa (-6.65%), 3^rd harvest beans (-6.50%), castor beans (-32.64%) and sorghum in grain (-6.73%).

Estimates change from February to March 

In the March edition of the Systematic Survey of Agricultural Production, the highlights among the results compared to February figures are: rice in grain (-1.15%), 1^st harvest beans (-7.86%), 2^nd harvest beans (3.33%), castor beans (-13.84%), 1^st harvest corn (-1.37%), soybeans in grain (-2.09%) and sorghum in grain (-11.33%).

The negative change registered in the estimates for 1^st harvest beans, this month, is due to the new data referring to the states of Piauí (-24.87%), Bahia (-57.45%) and Rio Grande do Sul (-16.33%), where the long dry periods caused damages to crops.

In case of 2^nd harvest beans, based on the survey carried out in March, there is expansion of 3.33% of the expected production, in comparison with February. The main reason stimulating the producers to the planting of this second harvest was the recovery of the prices of this product. Paraná is the main producer, having reached a production of 287,371 million tons and surpassed by about 109% the amount obtained in 2005.

Regarding castor beans, whose production decreased by 13.84% in comparison with February, the dry period is also seen as the main cause to the decrease. This problem occurred, mainly, in Ceará (-13.06%) and in Bahia (-18.49%), being the latter the major national producer.

In relation to 1^st harvest corn, the estimate for March points to decrease of 1.37% in production, compared to the estimate of February, as a consequence of the reductions observed, especially, in Bahia (-14.59%) and Rio Grande do Sul (-9.31%). The reason accounting for this reduction is the lack of rain during the main steps of the development of corn crops.

In the same comparison, the decrease of 2.09% in estimates for soybeans results from the reduction occurred in the South region (-5.47%), with Paraná (-6.11%) and Rio Grande do Sul as the highlights (-5.28%). In these states, the reduction is a consequence of sparse rain and of the reduced use of fertilizers.

For sorghum, whose production decreased by 11.33% in comparison to February, the main factor is the significant reduction of planted area, especially in the states of Minas Gerais (-15.31%) and Goiás (-30.73%). It is worth pointing out that these states account, respectively, for 13.04% and 30.63% of the national production of this cereal.