Agriculture in Brazil
Brazil is an immense country, spanning nearly half of the continent of South America and thus has a great deal of diverse agricultural resources. Brazil can be divided into two very distinct agricultural areas.
The first area is comprised of the southern half of the country and has a semi-temperate climate. It also has more rainfall, better soils, higher technology and input use, and more experienced farmers as well as a fairly adequate infrastructure. This region produces most of the grains, oil seeds, and export crops that are produced in Brazil.
The second area is comprised of the drought ridden northeast region and the Amazon basin. It lacks well-distributed rainfall, good soil, infrastructure, and sufficient development capital, which makes agriculture more difficult and less successful in this region. It is mostly occupied by subsistence farmers, but in recent years it has also become an increasingly important exporter of forest products, cocoa, and tropical fruits.
The area in Central Brazil is made up of substantial grassland areas that have only scattered trees. The grasslands that are found in Brazil are generally less fertile than those found in North America and are usually more suited for grazing.
The history of agriculture of Brazil begins with Brazil’s creation as a colony of Portugal, and is intertwined with the history of slavery in the country. Slavery was abolished in 1888 by the “Golden Law” but the practice of forced labor has remained commonplace in the agricultural industry. Under the country’s dictatorship period in the twentieth century, agricultural was widely neglected and exploited as a means of resources for the industry structure and cheap food for the urban population. Well in the 1980s, exports and prices were controlled with quotas and prices ceilings. In the early 1990s changes were made to this system.
Today, Brazilian agriculture is quite diversified and the country is mostly self sufficient in terms of food. Agriculture is about eight percent of Brazil’s gross domestic product, and it employs about a quarter of the labor force in all of its six million agricultural enterprises. Brazil is also the world’s largest producer of sugar cane and coffer, and has also become a net exporter of soybeans, cocoa, orange juice, forest products, tobacco, and other tropical fruits and nuts that are grown in Brazil. The production of livestock is an equally important process in many parts of the country, and there has recently been rapid growth in the industries of pork, poultry, and milk which reflects changes in consumer tastes. Brazil production is currently about sixty percent field crops and forty percent livestock. Together, these industries account for about thirty-five percent of the country’s exports.
Including the rain forests of the Amazon basin, over half of Brazil is covered by forests. More recently, migrations into the Amazon and the large scale burning of forest areas have brought attention to the issue of environmental issues related to the agriculture industry in Brazil. The government has been working to create laws that help to protect the country’s natural resources.