Various farmers from Santa Rosa, Brazil, spoke about their experiences during the horticultural day training organized by the Institute of Agricultural and Industrial Development (IFAI), which was held at the Cultural Station of Posadas on Tuesday September 29.
Valerio Zuco, who specialized in semi-hydroponic systems based on a substrate of rice husk, cultivates about 150,000 plants of strawberry. According to him, this system is able to achieve fruits that weight between 800 grams and 1.2 kilos per plant and harvest throughout the year, unlike what happens when planting in soil. However, he said, the yields are lower in the warm seasons. "The varieties we use today in semi-hydroponic systems are the San Andres and Avion varieties, which adapted the best to this system," said Zuco.
All of Zuco’s family is engaged in horticultural production and they market their products in eight municipalities of the southern region of Brazil, "we pack the fruits and deliver them with a barcode," he said. To ensure product quality, transportation is done in cold storage trucks that were purchased with the proceeds of production. The productive core of the family is located in Santa Rosa, where they have been working for three years, but they also have farms in La Feliz and Puerto de Vaqueria.
"We have about 500,000 strawberry plants in these three municipalities," the producer said when asked about the volume of their plantations. He said they also produced "tomatoes in semi-hydroponic and conventional systems, as well as bell peppers, cucumbers, and bean varieties. However, our most important production is strawberry." Valerio said the semi-hydroponic system "reduces pesticide use by at least 50%, and improves productivity of the unit because a person who took care of 10,000 plants can now take care about 20,000." Another benefit, he stated, was that there was a decreased incidence in diseases associated with strawberry production.
He also said that one of the greatest economic benefits of this system was that the same plant could produce for up to four years, while in the traditional system it only produced for two.
Source: caa-nearural.com