Economic viability of supplementary irrigation in citrus at northeast of the State Paraná

Abstract

Citrus irrigation in Southern Brazil is supplementary. In some situations it is used to minimize the risks of irregular distribution of rain and in improving the quality of the fruits. There are several kinds of irrigation systems that can be used in citrus. Each system, due to its own efficiency, provides different yield increments when compared to unirrigated crops. Besides, due to its technical and hydraulic characteristics, different irrigation systems increase production costs in different ways. There are three different markets for citrus - fresh fruit, concentrated juice, and in natura export - demanding different use of inputs for its crop production. The study aims to analyze the viability of citrus supplementary irrigation in Maringá, Southern Brazil, using a Decision Analysis’ framework. It was found that citrus irrigation with conventional sprinkler system was not profitable. Drip irrigation, due to its low energy consumption, showed higher expected net returns.