There are only a few days left until the start of corn planting, but uncertainty persists and it is believed that the use of nutrients will be lower.
(NAP)Despite the incentives that the government wants to promote and the presence of possible new cases of leafhopper, producers’ expectations regarding the use of nutrients for the next corn campaign have been reduced.
The use of fertilizers for the current campaign could increase by 4% compared to the volumes used last year, says Roberto Rotondora, president of the Fertilzar Civil Association, because “a decrease in the area allocated to corn is expected due to the leafhopper issue.”
According to data from Fertilizar, corn crops consume around 35% to 40% of nutrients, while wheat and barley use 30% and the rest is distributed between soybeans, sorghum and other crops.
Although the third report of the National Monitoring Network was released a few days ago Dalbulus maidis I saw, which brought good news for corn: the majority of the 387 localities surveyed with adhesive chromatic traps registered declines in populations, especially in the regions that were in the worst condition, in the NOA and North Central (mainly north of Córdoba). Until now, there remains much fear and indecision among producers.
Faced with this scenario, Rotondaro estimates that part of the late corn will be converted to early corn, which requires more fertilization, estimated at around 100 kilos/ha of fertilizer.
Late corn requires between 190 and 200 kilos, including phosphorus, nitrogen and the rest of the elements, while early corn requires around 300 kilos.
The input-output relationship [cuánto grano se necesita para adquirir el producto]with the current figures in the case of nitrogen, it is favorable. But phosphorus is still not so favorable, with values that are 20% above the average and the reduction of 10 points in the PAIS tax, which was left at 7.5%, could have some impact on the investment in nutrients.
Dry or irrigated land
For the Executive Director of Fertilizar, María Fernanda González San Juan, a large part of agriculture in Argentina is carried out on dry land and in the case of corn, if fertilization is done correctly, one can obtain about “14,000 kilos of corn/ha on average, while the average achieved is 7,600 kilos/ha, 53% of what could be achieved,” she described.
“Being more conservative, aiming to reach around 12,500 kilos, we have a production gap, where as a country we could harvest almost four thousand kilos more per hectare in dry land, not to mention if we managed to incorporate a technology such as irrigation: we would be talking about 20,000 kilos per hectare,” described González San Juan.
Regarding the price of inputs versus the price of fertilizers, which is the amount of corn needed to buy a kilo of fertilizer, González San Juan assessed that: “Historically, I needed 5 kilos of corn to buy a kilo of phosphate fertilizer, today 6.6 kilos of corn are needed. As for urea, the historical average indicates that it is 4.5 kilos of corn and today it is 4.3 kilos of corn; in nitrogen fertilizers it is a little lower, in September of last year it was a similar number.”
Beyond the price ratio that is needed, the Executive pointed out that “it is important to see the concept of efficiency, which is to see how many kilos of corn each kilo of fertilizer gives me” and explained that 7 kilos of corn are needed for 1 kilo of nitrogen, 22 kilos of corn for 1 kilo of phosphorus and seven kilos of corn for one kilo of sulfur.
González San Juan considered that “the million dollar question is: How many more kilos of corn does it give me?” Each kilo of nitrogen produces between 15 and 25 kilos of corn grain, that is, of the grains produced by corn, I use seven to buy and the rest is what generates my profit. In phosphorus, the efficiency produces between 25 and 65 kilos of grain. And sulfur generates between 45 and 95 kilos of grain as well.. Numbers cannot be analyzed from a single context.”
In a test case, the evidence yielded 6,380 kilos of corn and fertilizing with an average dose achieved 7,550 kilos and with the application of nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur it yielded 9,650 kilos.
With the use of fertilizers, the numbers that the Executive Director showed were eloquent: “Fertilizing more completely means putting in about US$207 per hectare, but the producer will harvest 2,100 more kilos of grain, which is US$288, which means that, “The result is an additional return of 81 dollars per hectare.”
“With these numbers, the return on investment is 40% in six months. In short, if the producer invested $207 in fertilizer and after six months he made $81 in profit, it is as if he had had an investment fund in dollars of 40% for six months. And, if we take this to a one-year investment, we are at a return on investment of 80% in dollars. Fertilization technology pays for itself,” he concluded.(Agricultural News).
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