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Daniel Pedrosa from Epagri in Ituporanga has been developing since 2014 an onion hybrid resistant to diseases and adapted to the Alto Vale do Itajaí, research that should go to MAPA for registration in 2027, while the crisis led six municipalities to emergency with producers accumulating R$ 100 million in losses.
The onion crisis in Santa Catarina is destroying the income of producers who face a scenario where production costs exceed the final value of the product, and while six municipalities declare a state of emergency, a researcher has been working for 12 years on a solution that could transform the future of the crop in the state. Daniel Pedrosa, an agronomist at Epagri’s Experimental Station in Ituporanga (EEITU), has been developing since 2014 a new hybrid onion species designed to be more disease-resistant, have good productive capacity, and adapt to the climatic conditions of the Alto Vale do Itajaí, a region that concentrates the largest onion production in Santa Catarina and Brazil. The research is considered unprecedented at the experimental station, which over 42 years developed 10 onion cultivars but had never invested in a hybrid model like the one Pedrosa is leading.
The contrast between the current crisis and the promise of the hybrid is striking. Ituporanga, considered the national capital of onions and the city where Pedrosa conducts his research, is among the municipalities that declared an emergency due to high productive supply combined with low demand, which drove the product price below production cost, generating estimated losses of R$ 100 million in the region. While producers abandon crops because harvesting costs more than what onions are worth on the market, the hybrid under development at Epagri offers the possibility of cultivating a variety that better resists diseases and produces more per hectare, a combination that can reduce costs and improve competitiveness in a market that currently does not compensate the producer.
What makes the onion hybrid different from traditional SC cultivars
The difference between the hybrid Pedrosa is developing and the cultivars that Santa Catarina producers have been planting for decades lies in genetics and field performance. Hybrid onion models are used in the world’s main high-yield producing regions, but in Santa Catarina, only 5% of the cultivated area uses hybrid seeds, a percentage that leaves the state lagging behind international competitors who achieve significantly higher productivity per hectare. “The purpose of the research is to change this scenario, raising the technological level of the crop and productivity,” explains Pedrosa, indicating that the goal is not just to create a resistant variety but to transform the productive standard of Santa Catarina onions.
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The hybrid under development analyzes agronomic characteristics that determine acceptance both in the field and in the market. Bulb shape, color, and size are evaluated along with productivity and susceptibility to diseases, because an onion that resists pathogens but does not meet consumer preferences in appearance and taste does not solve the commercial problem producers face. Pedrosa’s research seeks a balance between genetic resistance and commercial quality, a challenge that explains why development takes 12 years and why the experimental station had never tried before: creating a hybrid that works on all fronts is a process that requires patience that the market does not always allow.
Why the onion crisis in SC makes the research even more urgent
The situation producers face demonstrates the fragility of the current onion cultivation model in the state. High productive supply combined with stagnant demand drove prices down to levels where each kilo sold generates a loss for the farmer, a dynamic that led six Santa Catarina municipalities, including Ituporanga, to declare a state of emergency and threatens the economic survival of thousands of families who depend exclusively on onions. The crisis is not new: the cycle of overproduction followed by price drops repeats periodically, but the intensity of the current episode forces producers to question whether the cultivation model based on conventional varieties is still viable.
Pedrosa’s hybrid offers a partial answer to this question. If the variety developed at Epagri delivers the disease resistance it promises, onion producers will spend less on agricultural pesticides, lose less harvest due to pathogens, and be able to harvest more per planted hectare, a reduction in costs and an increase in productivity that improve profit margins even when the selling price is low. The hybrid does not solve the market problem of disproportion between supply and demand, but it strengthens the producer to face low price cycles without each harvest turning into a risk of bankruptcy.
How long until the onion hybrid reaches producers
Pedrosa’s research is in the final evaluation phase before the regulatory process. The development, which began in 2014, is expected to initiate registration with MAPA (Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock) in 2027, a bureaucratic step that includes the presentation of agronomic data, field tests, and formal approval preceding the commercial availability of the hybrid onion seed to producers. The registration period may take additional months depending on the ministry’s analysis, meaning the seed will likely not be available for large-scale planting in Ituporanga’s fields before 2028.
For onion producers facing the crisis now, the wait may seem too long. But the alternative, continuing to plant conventional cultivars that are more vulnerable to diseases and less productive, perpetuates the problem that the hybrid promises to solve, and agricultural research of this magnitude cannot be accelerated without compromising the genetic quality that determines whether the variety will work under real field conditions. The 12 years Pedrosa dedicated to development represent a time investment that will yield returns for decades when the hybrid is in the fields producing onions that are more resistant and more productive than any currently available cultivar.
What the hybrid represents for the future of onions in Santa Catarina
Pedrosa’s research has the potential to reposition Santa Catarina on the onion production map. If the state manages to increase the use of hybrid seeds from the current 5% to levels comparable to those of high-yield international producing regions, productivity per hectare will increase significantly, and the cost per harvested kilo will fall, a change that makes Santa Catarina onion producers more competitive in both the domestic and export markets. The Ituporanga experimental station, which developed 10 cultivars over 42 years, could, with this single hybrid, bring about a greater transformation than all previous varieties combined.
For Ituporanga and the other municipalities that declared an emergency due to the onion crisis, the research offers concrete hope that the cycle of losses can be interrupted. The national capital of onions needs innovation to remain relevant in an increasingly competitive market, and Pedrosa’s hybrid is the kind of solution that originates where the problem exists: in the field, developed by someone who understands the reality of producers and works just a few kilometers from the crops that the crisis is destroying.
And you, did you know that only 5% of onion crops in SC use hybrid seeds? Do you think the hybrid will solve the producers’ crisis? Leave your opinion in the comments.
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