Agricultural commodity
ORANGE
In Brazil, oranges arrived in the mid-1530s, brought by the Portuguese who saw in the fruit a source of vitamin C, a nutrient that could act in the fight against scurvy and was devastating the crews of ships during the great navigations.
In the 1930s, the Portuguese government divided the lands into captaincies and handed them over to their trusted men to administer. It was at this moment that the first orange productions began to emerge, the beginning of Brazilian citrus cultivation, which would become the largest in the world.
Records show that the first orange and lemon productions were made in the then Captaincy of São Vicente (São Paulo coastline), with seedlings and cultural treatments brought from Spain.
Currently, orange production is spread across many countries. Its cultivation is done through grafted seedlings, which develop and start producing much faster than a plant originated directly from seeds.
Depending on the species, a grafted plant, for example, can begin its production after the third year of planting, While a plant developed directly from a seed can take up to 7 years.
