Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Sao Paulo Organic Oranges for the World

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

SAO PAULO, Jul 14 2007 (IPS) - Of every 10 glasses of organic orange juice consumed in Europe and the United States, 8.5 are produced from fruit grown in groves in the north of Brazil's Sao Paulo state that are members of Grupo Montecitrus. “We made many mistakes before we achieved an ideal system of production without agro-toxins,” agricultural engineer Marcelo de Almeida told Tierramérica. He helped in the conversion of the Wanderley, Fábio and Paulo Rodas groves — the world's leading producers of organic oranges.

Each year, 6,000 tons of processed concentrated juice comes from 1.5 million trees planted on 4,000 hectares. Average yield is 42 tons per hectare, which is more than conventional, non-organic groves.

That output is thanks to a technology developed by the Rodas brothers, and includes organic fertilizer made from sugarcane waste.