CLIMATE ZONING FOR PEPPER CULTIVATION IN THE STATE OF PIAUÍ

Abstract

Cultivation of pepper is especially important for small farmers, and requires specific climatic conditions. In this sense, the implementation of agroclimatic zoning is configured as an instrument for classifying climate risk zones for the establishment of the crop. The objective of the study was to characterize the climatic zoning for the cultivation of chilli pepper in the state of Piauí. Data were collected from 13 meteorological stations belonging to the National Institute of Meteorology (INMET), referring to climatological normals (1981-2010) and from 23 points extracted from the NASA POWER Platform, referring to the years 1988 to 2018. The climatic suitability for the crop was defined according to its water and temperature requirements. Data relating to temperature and precipitation were interpolated using the IDW method and areas suitable for cultivation were identified according to the resulting spatialization. This procedure was performed by the QGIS software. There is aptitude for the cultivation of chilli pepper from January to April, in the central-north, southeast and southwest regions; from April to July in the northern mesoregion and part of the central-north region and from October to January in some areas of the southwestern mesoregion.