Costs and financial viability of blueberry production in Pelotas

Blueberry cultivation is a recent economic activity in Brazil. The productive and commercial systems still need improvement, especially to maintain the regularity of quality and productivity and the transparency of costs and prices. There is no study dedicated to analyze the economic viability of blueberry production under Brazilian conditions. Therefore, the objective of this study is to survey the costs and analyze the economic and financial viability of this crop in a farm located in Pelotas, state of Rio Grande do Sul (RS), Brazil. The data collection and analysis followed the procedure adopted by the Policy Analysis Matrix, and the viability indicators were net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR) and payback period. The results showed a production cost of US$ 7,394.61 per hectare or US$ 2,310.88 per ton and financial viability for production, since the NPV for the 10-year period was US$ 26,214.81, the IRR was 26.36%, the net income was US$ 7,180.25 hectare/ year-1, and the payback was 4.9 years. Therefore, blueberry production in southern RS is profitable, and the production chain can receive new investments given the technological and market conditions of this study.