PR: Broccoli heads losses with frosting, with 70% of the burnt heads

The intense cold with Frost that took care of the Paraná in the past few weeks, left a trail of losses in farming. The losses are still being tabulated by the producers, but I have a few numbers on which involves olericulture. According to the Office of technical assistance and Rural extension (Emater-PR), the broccoli was the vegetable more affected by the climate in the past few weeks, accumulating 70% of break in the last fortnight, especially between the municipalities of the metropolitan region of Curitiba (RMC), which account for 50% of the vegetable production in the State.
Super break in harvesting broccoli made the box marketed as 12 heads doubled of price (ranging from $ 20 to 40 R$) Supply Center of Paraná (Ceasa). The alternative product to broccoli, cauliflower, also didn''t survive the strong cold, registering losses of 70% and with a direct impact on prices, making the box with 12 units were R$ to R$ 38 45. "Both the broccoli as the cauliflower are cultures that are in discovery areas, which makes them more vulnerable. Proof of this is that the hardwoods, such as lettuce, stayed at 20% because most producers adopts plasticultura or copper with TNT planting, "says the State Coordinator of the Emater-PR, Iniberto Hamerschmidt.
Even so, according to him, the sides of these cultivated areas or areas that have not been covered embittered significant losses. "Today, only the RMC produces 1000 4.5 tons of lettuce per month and at least 900 tons were lost. In the case of lettuce and carrot with winter varieties, you can opt for this path in order to have a culture more resistant to low temperatures ", suggests the expert.
Another important recommendation given by the Emater in various courses is to irrigate the crops after a night with frost. "Damping cultures before the sun comes up, the producer avoids the thermal shock and burning that damages the product", points Hamerschmidt. "There''s a trick quite for the specific case of cauliflower, which is to use the leaves to protect the head from Frost. Of course, when labour and the producer has some 15 1000 feet that''s grown more complicated to make, but that care minimizes losses. In fact, the winter just started now, i.e. this whim will determine the results of every farmer in this season that still bring Frost and cold very strict "alerts.
According to the follow up of Emater-PR, good news at the greenery was with the cabbage, which almost was not affected. The Paraná is one of the largest producers of the country, collecting an average of 300 1000 heads a year, to the point of export production.