Comparative analysis between two transgenic soybean cultivation systems developed in Sulina-PR haversted in 2019/2020

Abstract

Considering a context characterized by the increasing global demand for high nutritional foods, such as soybeans and its derivatives, as well as the emergence of biotechnologies capable of increasing agricultural yield through the cultivation of genetically modified plants, the objective of this research is to estimate, analyze and compare the production costs and profitability of two generations of transgenic soybeans cultivars currently available on the market, Roundup Ready (RR) and Intacta RR2 Pro (IPRO). RR soybean is the first generation of transgenic soybean, while IPRO cultivar represents the second generation of genetically modified soybean, with higher yield potential, however, it requires the payment of royalties, which can improve the production costs. The hypothesis adopted is that the cultivation of IPRO cultivar provides greater profitability than RR cultivar, due to its yield potential. To achieve the proposed objective, a case study was carried out, which consisted of monitoring the entire process of soybean cultivation in two farmers located in Sulina-PR in 2019/2020 harvest. The main variable production costs were related to inputs and mechanized operations. We also identified the productivity and profitability of the two systems. The research results revealed that in the two farmers the soybean crop economically viable, with the total production costs of IPRO cultivar higher than RR cultivar. Similar results obtained for profits which were higher for IPRO cultivar than RR due to its higher yield, corroborating the adopted hypothesis.