ECONOMIC VIABILITY OF THE VARIABLE RATE TECHNOLOGY COMPARED TO THE TRADITIONAL SYSTEM OF FERTILIZATION IN A COFFEE FIELD: A CASE STUDY

摘要

The precision agriculture appears as an important tool to improve coffee field management, mainly to this culture that has high production costs. The present work intended to accomplish a comparative study of the economic feasibility of two fertilizer systems: one using the precision agriculture and other using conventional fertilization. The data base used were extracted from the production costs of the Brejao farm, in south of Minas Gerais, in three areas (22 ha, 10.52 ha and 6.23 ha), where were applied fertilizer in variable rates in the 2007/2008 and 2008/2009 harvests. The precision agriculture was characterized by the georeferenced soil sampling and the application of phosphorus and potassium in variable rates. The conventional fertilization costs were obtained by simulations considering the traditional soil sampling performed at these areas. In order to compare the two fertilization systems, it was considered the operations and the amount of fertilizer necessary in each of the fertilization system. It was realized differences in the elements and in the amount that should be applied between the two systems. The variable rate fertilization was more profitable to the area of 22 ha and 10.52 ha in the two harvests studied and to the area of 6.23 ha was profitable (less prejudice) only to the last crop.