Jul 29, 2010
Millet Seen As Alternative to Corn for Safrinha Production
Author: Michael Cordonnier/Soybean & Corn Advisor, Inc.
The discovery of soybean rust in Brazil during the 2000/10 growing season nixed farmers plans of growing two crops of soybeans in the same field during the same growing season. Since that time, farmers in central Brazil have been experimenting with other crops that could be grown after the soybeans are harvested. The principal crop thus far used for this safrinha production has been corn, but other crops such as cotton, sorghum, and millet are starting to gain a foothold.
The Brazilian government heavily promoted the production of safrinha corn through attractive production loans and a high minimum price guarantees. These efforts were initiated because they wanted to break the boom and bust cycle of corn production in Brazil and also to increase corn exports from the country. Their efforts have been successful and as a result, there is now a glut of corn in the domestic market.
The large supply of corn has resulted in very low domestic prices for corn and as a result, farmers have been looking for alternatives to corn for their safrinha production.
One of the crops that is starting to gain a foothold is millet. Millet's main attribute for this type of production is its ability to withstand dry weather and still produce acceptable grain yields. Millet has the ability to go dormant if the soil becomes too dry and to resume growing once rainfall returns. This is very important in central Brazil because the safrinha crops are planted as the rainy season winds down and the dry season begins.
Millet has another advantage because it is very cheap to grow and it does well in low fertility situations. That is why millet is so popular in sub-Sahara Africa where droughts are common and the subsistent farmers do not have the resources to purchase fertilizers.
Millet in Brazil is used in animal rations for poultry and pigs as well as being used in cattle feedlots. The newer millet hybrids used in Brazil have 30% to 40% more protein than current sorghum hybrids grown in the region.
Farmers in Goias are currently harvesting their safrinha millet and reporting yields in the range of 30 sacks per hectare or approximately 27 bu/ac. That doesn't sound very high, but the cost of producing the grain is also very low. The farmers estimate that approximately 18 of those 30 sacks are needed to cover the cost of production leaving a margin of 12 sacks per hectare. Millet in Goias is selling for R$ 8 to R$ 9 per sack which results in a margin of US$ 22.00 to US$ 25.00 per acre.