Viabilidade econômica e financeira: diferentes cenários para implantação de irrigação por pivô central em Alegrete/RS

Abstract

The main activity of Alegrete is rice irrigated by flood. However, in the rice areas, soybeans proved to be an alternative to crop rotation, improving control of red rice, the main weed of rice crops. The use of irrigation practices aims to satisfy the water needs of the crop during the crop cycle, providing adequate conditions to increase the yield and quality of the products, because all RS regions have climatic needs of soy irrigation, considering the recommended sowing season (October to December) and soybeans of all cycles. Therefore, the general objective of this research was to determine the economic and financial viability for different areas irrigated by central pivot (20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 hectares), farm-livestock integration with succession between soybean and winter pasture for cattle in Alegrete/RS. Three scenarios with different values of agricultural marketing were considered. For the pessimistic scenario, due to the lower marketing value of agricultural products, no investment in central pivot irrigation systems showed economic and financial feasibility. The investment shows the economic and financial viability of the optimistic scenario in agricultural areas of 40.70 ha, and in a stable scenario and optimistic scenario, the areas with 59.40 ha, 79.47 and 100.03 ha, providing, in addition to of agricultural production, more profitability for the farmer compared to the non-irrigated area.