A Homage to Antonio Krapovickas, a Great Peanut Master

Scholar Ricardo Vanni remembers his years studying peanuts with the famous botanist:

For many peanut scholars, Antonio Krapovickas is a real legend. The renowned Argentinian botanist dedicated most of his life to the study of peanuts and other plants, giving major contributions to the field.

A HOMAGE TO Antonio Krapovickas

a Great Peanut Master

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We asked Ricardo Vanni, Professor at the National University of the Northeast, who worked with Krapovickas for decades, to remember his friend.

My work with the great master spanned about 40 years.

In 1973, as a student, I applied for an assistant position for the course of plant morphology, where the professor was Krapovickas’ wife, Carmen Cristobal. I finished my coursework in 1979, and in 1983 I won a scholarship from Conicet to study pulses, such as the arachis, under Krapovickas. I was his only researcher. In 1982 I was appointed chief of lab work at the School of Systematic Botany and Phytogeography, and by 1985 I became a full professor. From that position I started working on peanuts, studying the shells from the greenhouse of IBONE (the Northeast Botanic Institute). With the arrival of 3,500 samples from the INTA Manfredi germplasm bank, we started studying several North American varieties.

We used to go to Manfredi twice each year: in October to organize the seeding based on subspecies, the color of the skin and kernel; in March we would go back to study the actual plant. In the meantime, Krapovickas was publishing his work on arachis together with W. Gregory. The work was later translated into English, as requested by the Americans, along with the study of chromosomes by A. Fernandez.

We published several works: The Peanuts Grown in Mexico and Their Relations with Guatemala; The Varieties Grown in Bolivia; The Varieties Grown in Peru; The Varieties Grown in Ecuador (published post mortem by Krapovickas).

I carried on with the studies of neighboring genera and we concluded that the closest one to peanuts was the stylosanthes, an American genus. We studied the American varieties, 23 in total, 9 of which were from Argentina. They constitute a good fodder plant within the subtropical region. We also started studying the A. pintoi Krap, especially from Bahia, in Brazil, which was then adopted as a fodder plant in that country. A. pintoi is very much used as a cover crop and we are using it today as a cover to achieve organic crops, free of chemicals.

My research work with Krapovickas also allowed me to get scholarships and travel abroad: in 1994 I was awarded a scholarship from the New York Botanical Garden to work with Rupert Barneby, a world reference for pulses. I was able to travel to the world’s most renowned gardens and in 2008, thanks to a Myndel Botanica Foundation scholarship, I was able to go to Kyiv, London, Paris, Belgium, Copenhagen, Berlin and Munich, and visit the most important gardens in Brazil. In 2015 I was invited by CATA, the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agriculture Science, where I worked for several days consulting on stylosanthes and A.pintoi, as cover crops. Nowadays I am enjoying the praise from many scientists about the published work and I often get invitations to peanut meetings all around the world, including in India, where Krapovickas participated in the inauguration of an ICRISAT center in Hyderabad.

I would like to end this account with an anecdote: a week before his passing, which came as a terrible shock to everyone, he came to my lab and said: “What do you think, Vanni, would you agree to appear as the first author in the book Varieties Grown in Ecuador?”.

He said he needed no further publications on his record, while I did. I was so grateful, though, of course, I did not accept.

Krapo dedicated 60 years to the study of this genus, and, with that gesture, he was demonstrating once again his kindness, his openness and his concern toward his fellow researchers so that they could keep publishing and maintain themselves in the research system.

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Only Bad News

from Ukraine

The Russian invasion of Ukraine and its impact on the peanut market.

The current war in Ukraine is probably the worst military confrontation in Europe since World War II, and many observers have pointed out that we may be at the most risk of a nuclear exchange between two major powers since the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. A dire situation, no doubt, which is affecting people all around the world in a number of ways, without sparing the peanut sector.

The most immediate impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on the peanut trade was the impossibility of delivering the containers in transit to Russia and Ukraine. Both countries are significant peanut consumers and their importers were expecting loads from Brazil, Argentina, and other origins which will never get to their destination. Shortly after the troops crossed the Ukrainian border, on February 24, the US, the EU and many other countries announced sanctions on Russia to an unprecedented extent, severely limiting trade and financial transactions. Though certain food products, as well as pharmaceuticals, were excluded from the ban, most international freight companies (such as Maersk, Hapag Lloyd, MSC, ONE y CMA-CGM) quickly announced that they wouldn’t deliver to Russian ports for security reasons. So exporters from Brazil, Argentina and elsewhere have been scrambling to figure out other possible destinations or to get their containers back to their place of origin. Fortunately, at least some of these containers managed to arrive at St Petersburg eventually. The decision to suspend Russia from the SWIFT international payment system, largely controlled by the US, may also have some consequences. Though it does not affect all Russian banks, many sellers may face difficulties at the time of payment for past deliveries.

The biggest challenge to the peanut sector, however, may come from the disruption to the energy markets as a result of the war, particularly regarding the distribution and price of natural gas. Harvesting operations have already started in Brazil, Argentina and other world producers. Shortly after the peanuts are delivered to the plants, one of the most important operations is the drying, which allows the peanuts to be safely stored while they wait to be processed. In most cases, the drying is performed by burning natural gas, which is now becoming increasingly expensive and, in many places, difficult to find at any price.

Another impact on the peanut trade may come from the scarcity of sunflower oil; Ukraine is a major producer of sunflowers and the inevitable reduction of the supply may benefit competing products, such as olive oil and peanut oil.

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We asked Robson Fonseca, Foreign Trade Manager of Coplana, a major Brazilian exporter, a few questions about how shellers and growers are handling the situation.

Among peanut producers, Brazil is the one most severely affected by the war in Ukraine, as about half of its exports in 2021 had Russia and Ukraine as the destination.

The impact of the war on the Brazilian peanut sector is significant given the distribution of the country’s exports

Yes, far too significant. Russia represents 40 percent of our exports and Ukraine another 10 percent approximately. These exports involve some 35 exporters, most of which are medium or small companies, most of which are totally dedicated to exporting peanuts to Russia. They have their product at sea at this time; they purchased the peanuts from the Brazilian growers, shelled them and exported to Russia. Now they should collect the money from the sales against the delivery of documents, but it is impossible to get the containers to Russia. Most shipments are being concentrated in Rotterdam, Algeciras and Istanbul (the ones that were on their way to Ukraine). Russia’s importers are trying to perform payments but, of course, the SWIFT suspension is creating problems. Some Russian companies are trying to open accounts in those banks that have not been suspended.

How much product is currently in transit to Russia or Ukraine?

Brazil usually sends between 8,000 and 10,000 metric tons of peanuts to Russia on a monthly basis. We recently tried to figure out how many tons the 35 Brazilian companies I mentioned have in transit to Russia and the result was 10,000 tons. Then we have another 30,000 tons in the warehouses ready to ship. And all this is from the old season, the 2021 crop.

Any plan B that you are pursuing?

The last information we got from our Russian clients is that they are studying a way to get the peanuts through Riga or Tallin. However, Latvia and Estonia are also part of the EU, so I do not know whether this will be successful. I am not sure if this is official or a below-the-counter operation,

which would be obviously risky. Riga, for example, is about 570 km from St Petersburg. So the containers could be transported by truck. But there is still an EU border in between… Another problem comes with the shipping documents. The health certificates and other documents were prepared according to a certain destination and route, changing them is not an easy task. Then we still have the problem of payments. Of the 10,000 tons we have at sea, 90 percent must be with payment against documents. It is a big challenge.

What about the 2022 crop?

We are trying to sell the 2022 crop; obviously, we already closed contracts with Russian buyers. Since the beginning of the war, we had different information; according to some importers, food and medicines were exempt from the ban. But in reality, this was not happening. We also had shipments towards Belarus, these ships usually arrive in Lithuania, but this country closed its borders with Belarus. Another problem for Brazil is that we cannot import potassium. We need large quantities of fertilizers and we used to get them from Russia and Belarus. Those ships are not coming and if we do not receive the quantity of potassium and other elements we need by August or September, our 2023 season will also be compromised.

The situation is complicated

The prices of in-shell peanuts in Brazil are going down significantly. If you compare 2021 prices with today, the difference is huge. We use the 25kg bag as a reference unit; its price was 90 R$ in 2021 and now it is 50! If this situation doesn’t change, the planted area in Brazil will be highly reduced, at least by 30 percent. Many companies will go out of business. The exporters that concentrate on Russia and Ukraine are not buying peanuts at this time. Harvesting started a few weeks ago and growers are trying to sell the peanuts to shellers, but they can't. So the growers try to sell to the big companies. It is better to get a low price but at least get the chance to receive something. The risk of selling to a small company is that they may receive nothing: the smaller companies are out of cash and so the only chance of buying for them is against future payments. But will they be able to pay?

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Any alternatives for the 2022 crop?

We have been looking for the opening of Chinese imports for the last five years. We have authorization for oil, but not for kernels. We have produced all the paperwork through the Brazilian government and now we are waiting for a response from China. But it looks like China is not in a hurry. They had a good harvest and are buying some oil, but not even large quantities. So now we are thinking of establishing a channel of communication with China to see if we can do something in the short term. In any case that would be for the second half of 2022, definitely not for the coming months. So the peanuts currently at sea will have to come back and go directly to the oil plants. There is no alternative. The South American markets are not big enough to absorb all the product. Algeria? That market is also quite slow. If the war does not end in a few weeks, there is no way to sell these peanuts.

Is the Brazilian Government supporting the sector?

We have to see how much the government is going to support us. The minister of agriculture is very concentrated on the fertilizers problem. Of course, peanut is a problem, but if you consider other crops such as maize, wheat, beans, soybeans and rice, the damage from the lack of fertilizers can be devastating. The natural alternative to Russia as a supplier of potassium is Canada; we used to purchase from Russia because it had lower prices. Now the cost is going to be a lot higher.

And the sea freight continues to be very high…

It is still very complicated. The rise in the cost was already very high in the last year or so. It was multiplied by two, then by three or four here in South America. Now it will probably get worse. In summary: a truckload of uncertainty

Do you think prices of peanuts will go down?

Brazil now has 12 companies certified to export to the European Union. These are the biggest companies. The big barrier for Brazil here is aflatoxin. Pesticide residues may also be a problem. However, having no other option in Ukraine and Russia, many of these companies will play their cards in Europe with the new crop, which is very good. So they will probably get a bit of the market from Argentina and prices will probably go down. We are getting ready for that.

Do you think you are ready?

proper seeds, etc. We have agronomists checking the field, we test the peanuts in the lots, before entering the plant, then again, when receiving the loads. Maybe not all 12 companies are doing the same work, but probably half of them are doing similar things. So we will hope to find new markets in Europe. After all, Russia used to be a market mainly for Argentina, then, in the last few years, Brazil gained much of the share. Anyway, this year will be very complicated. For next year I believe we will have a strong reduction of the planted area and find a new equilibrium. In 2021 many growers who did not know peanuts decided to try peanuts and now they will be very disappointed with their decision. At some point, the war will be over and Russia will go back to buying. They need the peanuts after all.

Will you be able to compensate customers if the war ends?

Whatever was not delivered in February or March, is lost. They may go back to the monthly consumption pattern. We are contacting Russian friends and also Brazilians who live in Russia. They have no idea of what is really going on: they go on with their lives, and the supermarkets are still stacked with products. Ukraine is a different story. It seems to me that it will take a long time to go back to business as usual; they are destroying that country.

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A note from the editors: by the time this issue of World Peanut Magazine was completed, Mr Robson Fonseca tells us that about 25 per cent of Brazilian containers going to Russia managed to arrive at their destination.