Feasibility and Economic Risk of Programmed Pruning Cycle in Arabic Coffee

Abstract

Coffee crop represents a great economic importance in Brazil, in which Arabica coffee represents a great part of the national production. However, the average yield of Arabica coffee is low, which reduces the profitability of the activity. Pruning systems can regain vigor and increase productivity. The system most adopted by coffee farmers is "recepa" (cutting off the orthotropic branch at 0.8 m above ground), which has not resulted in efficient reinvigoration. It is believed that the implementation of new systems, such as programmed pruning cycle, can improve the productivity of Arabica coffee. However, the economic impacts and risks associated with this type of pruning are Baitelle et al. JEAI, 21(4): 1-9, 2018; Article no.JEAI.39621 2 still unknown. The objective of this study was to determine the feasibility and financial risk of the use of programmed pruning cycle compared to traditional Arabica pruning. A financial viability of programmed pruning cycle without Arabica coffee was determined by calculating the Net Present Value and the Internal Rate of Return. Using the sensitivity analysis, to identify the items with the greatest impact on the project. Finally, the financial risk of this technique was determined by the Monte Carlo method. Original Research Article

Cycle pruning programmed on the grain yield of arabica coffee

“…At present, the most effective pruning system in Conilon coffee is the cycle pruning programmed (CPP), which consists of changing the plant architecture so as to maintain 12,000 to 15,000 orthotropic branches per hectare (Verdin-Filho et al, 2016) and eliminating the plagiotropic branches which have already attained 70% of their production capacity. The cycle pruning programmed has several advantages when compared to traditional systems, e.g., increased average yield and standardization of the crop; reduced total man labor in the long term, as CPP is performed at every four or five cycles; greater ease in thinning and cultivation practices; greater uniformity of flowering and fruit maturation; greater ease in pest and disease control; higher production stability per cycle; and non-occurrence of "zero harvest", ensuring yearly production (Gathaara;Kiara, 1984;Verdin-Filho et al, 2014;Verdin-Filho et al, 2016;Baitelle et al, 2018).…”

“…Moreover, PPAC may reduce mortality in the plants subjected to pruning, increase their longevity and yield due to reinvigoration as well as reduce yield bienniality. Baitelle et al (2018) studied the use of PPAC and concluded that, in the long term, it is more economically viable than the recepa for mountain coffee growers who do not adopt mechanization. They concluded that at a minimum attractiveness rate of 12%, the implementation of scheduled pruning is feasible as it generates a TRI of 15.30%, about 3.3 percentage points higher than the minimum attractiveness rate.…”

Economic feasibility of optical sensors for variable rate nitrogen fertilization in corn

“…Regarding the economic analysis, except for the sensors, all prices of inputs used were collected from the study region. The price per kg of corn (US$ kg -1 ) was based on the average local price from the last five years (2014( , 2016( , and 2018, which is established by the Central of Supply of Minas Gerais (Ceasa -Minas). It should be mentioned that only five years were used due to the lack of data from previous years.…”

“…This distribution has as input parameters: the minimum, the modal (most likely) or average value of the variable under study, and the maximum value. As mentioned before, the use of the triangular distribution represents an alternative when sufficient historical data for a particular variable is not available (Baitelle et al, 2018).…”

Improvement Generative Growth of Coffea arabica L. Using Plant Growth Regulators and Pruning

“…Plant growth regulators (PGR) in low concentrations can encourage, inhibit, or modify growth and development both in quantity and quality. PGR improves the absorption of nutrients by plants [9], PGR makes it possible to exploit the production potential of plants. In addition, PGR serves to accelerate the response of plants to the environment [10].…”