Technical and economic indicators of papaya crops for the production factors water and organic compost

Abstract

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to analyze technical and economic indicators of responses of papaya (Carica papaya L.) to the production factors water and organic compost, in a rural property with characteristic of family farming in the Semiarid region of Brazil. The study was conducted from August 2019 to July 2020, in the first crop cycle, in the municipality of Pentecoste, Ceara, Brazil. A Formosa papaya crop (cultivar Tainung 1) was established with spacing of 2.5 × 2.5 m, and irrigated by a micro-sprinkler localized system. A randomized block design was used, with a split-plot arrangement and four replications. The primary treatments consisted of four irrigation water depths (60%, 80%, 100%, and 120% of the crop evapotranspiration), and the secondary treatments consisted of four organic compost rates (0%, 50%, 100%, and 150% of the required rate for the crop). The irrigation water productivity of 5.38 R$ (BRL) m-3, related to the requirements of the production factors, on average, is five-fold the reference value for papaya crops under conventional production system. Rural credit allows the farmer to reach a social reproduction level with a papaya crop area that can be, on average, half of that needed under conditions without financing.