A caracterização da cultura do pêssego no estado de São Paulo, 2013-2017

The state of São Paulo holds a significant share of Brazil’s peach production, being the country’s second largest peach producer in 2015. Focused on the fresh market, this crop has an important input in the workforce. The objective of the study is to analyze the data of the All-purpose Technical Assistance Coordination (CATI) of the Institute of Agricultural Economics (IEA) regarding the following aspects: planted trees (new and in production), production results, state’s production value, number of people employed, and growers’ income in the different production process stages, between the years of 2013 and 2017. The finding of the analyzed data pointed out that São Paulo’s peach production share is concentrated (86.4%) in four regions of the state (Campinas, Bragança Paulista, Itapeva and Avaré). Data analysis leads to the conclusion that there been not only a trend to decrease peach cultivation, but also a migration of this production to other areas in the last years. Investments in research are needed to create new crop varieties and improve the handling and post-harvest management of these fruits, allied with public policies for the state to regain its production levels. Government agencies should foster São Paulo’s peach production to avoid the rural exit, insofar as this culture is based on small farming.