Back in the 1980s, large-scale cultivation of melon began in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, due to favorable soil, weather, and plant health conditions. Later, watermelon and other tropical fruit of the northeastern semiarid region also started being exploited in a technified manner in order to supply the internal and external market. This region’s agricultural rise led to the creation of two major agricultural polar regions for tropical fruit export in the state of Rio Grande do Norte: Assú/Mossoró and Baraúnas.
Because of the demand for skilled professionals to work in the agricultural rise of the state of Rio Grande do Norte and also the northeastern Brazil, the former Agricultural College of Mossoró (ESAM) created the first graduate program in the field of Agricultural Sciences, Master degree in Plant Science, on June 1988, and the Doctorate degree on 23 June 2003 (Approved by CNE Ordinance nº 1,919 of 3/Jun/2005). The program, named Programa de Pós-graduação em Fitotecnia (PPGFITO, Graduate Program in Plant Science) aimed at training lecturers for higher education and researchers for studies and development activities, as well as increasing professional expertise of agricultural technical staff and adpapting professional to the current labor market.
The Master’s degree in Plant Science began working on March 1989 in the Plant Science Department facilities. The first Master thesis of PPGFITO, entitled Efeito do controle de invasoras e de níveis de nitrogênio sobre o comportamento de milho irrigado (Effect of weed control and nitrogen levels on the behavior of irrigated corn), was defended by the agronominc engineer Nizomar Falcão Bezerra on 29th November 1990 under the supervision of Dr. Paulo Sérgio Lima e Silva. The Doctorate degree began on March 2005 at UFERSA, and the first doctoral thesis, entitled Produção e qualidade de melancia fertirrigada com nitrogênio e potássio (Production and quality of watermelon fertirrigated with nitrogen and potassium), was defended on 20th February 2008 by the agronomic engineer Damiana Cleuma de Medeiros under the supervision of Dr. Maria Zuleide de Negreiros.
In 2008 PPGFITO first offered posdoc positions aiming to allow professors and researchers to run joint activities with their peers in the institution. These joint research activities are supposed to come into academic production in the institutional context or to enable knowledge strengthening and updating or, if necessary, the redirection of the researcher’s focus line.
The National Postdoc Program (PNPD-CAPES) granted, in 2007, fellowships to the proposals of two PPGFITO faculty members: Dr. Francisco Bezerra Neto and Dr. José Francismar de Medeiros. The research activities, according to the Call for Application (MEC/CAPES and MCT/FINEP/CNPq nº 034/2007), had their activities expected to start on July 2008.
