Embrapa, Evogene ink research collab to improve castor oil cultivation in Brazil
In Brazil, the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa), and Evogene signed a joint research agreement for the advancement of castor cultivation in Brazil. The cooperation will primarily focus on technologies for controlling castor-specific diseases as well as practices for castor cultivation in rotation with soybean.
The global market for castor oil has tightened over the past few years with industrial demand, in Brazil and internationally, exceeding availability and production. Presently, castor is cultivated on approximately 100,000 hectares (approximately 250,000 acres) in Brazil, an area that can substantially increase with the introduction of advanced varieties and new-modern cultivation practices, as being addressed by Evofuel in the past years.
Cultivation of castor in rotation with soybean (second crop or ‘safrinha’ crop) consists of planting Evofuel’s advanced castor varieties after harvesting the soybean crop. The target area for this rotation system is in the region of MATOPIBA (States of Maranhao, Tocantins, Piaui, and Bahia) in the northeast and central regions of Brazil, where approximately five million hectares (over 12 million acres) are estimated to be suitable for castor cultivation.
Evofuel is engaged in the development and commercialization of high yielding castor seeds as a cost-competitive, sustainable, and second-generation feedstock for the growing biofuel market. It has built its castor genetic assets based on a broad collection of over 300 castor lines from over 40 different geographic and climatic regions. Evofuel was spun out as a wholly owned subsidiary of Evogene in 2012
The collaboration with Embrapa follows three years of successful field trials of Evofuel’s castor varieties in Brazil. The trials demonstrated the suitability and economic benefits of growing Evofuel’s proprietary castor varieties as a second crop with soybean for production of oil feedstock for biofuels and other industrial uses. In March this year, Evofuel announced an agreement for the commercial production of castor in 2016 with SLC Agricola, one of Brazil’s largest landowners and agriculture businesses.
Category: Research
