Economic feasibility of use soil cover in organic lettuce crops in the semiarid region of the state of Alagoas, Brazil

Abstract

Lettuce is a species widely cultivated in the world and, in the production process, soil covers have been used to reduce water loss and production costs. The geotextile blanket, solid waste generated in water treatment plants, has potential as an alternative mulching. To maintain competitiveness, knowing the economic parameters through financial indicators will allow defining the feasibility of the rural enterprise. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the economic feasibility of use soil covers in four production periods on organic lettuce crops in the semiarid region of the state of Alagoas - Brazil. Four experiments were carried out in a completely randomized design, with four treatments (geotextile blanket, white white polypropylene mulching, black polypropylene mulching, and uncovered soil - control) and five replicates. Costs related to labor (weeding control), materials, inputs, energy and depreciation were estimated, in which the operation with harvest and post-harvest (33.7%) and the acquisition of the irrigation system, in the 1st production period were the most expressive (44.9%). Manual weeding increased costs in the control treatment by 38.6%. The economic indicators gross and net revenue, profitability index (PI), minimum attractiveness rate (MAR), discounted payback (DP) and net present value (NPV) were estimated, in which the lowest and highest gross (US$ 32,072.3 and 37,903.61 ha-1) and net (US$ 24,652.0 and 33,504.1 ha-1) revenues were observed in the 1st and 3rd production periods in black and white mulches, respectively. PI, MAR, DP and NPV indicated economic feasibility already in the 2nd production period.