Restrictions on Brazil’s future as agricultural leader

Infrastructure problems, low value-added products, exclusion of poor rural works, issues involving food safety, and threats to the environment are obstacles highlighted by scientists


By Carlos Eduardo Lins da Silva, in Tokyo

Agência FAPESP– The relationship between economics, agriculture, energy and the environment in Brazil was the topic of two of the lectures at the Japan-Brazil Symposium on Research Collaboration, promoted by FAPESP and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) held March 15-16 in Tokyo.

Joaquim Guilhoto, professor of the Department of Economics at the University of São Paulo School of Economics, Business Administration and Accounting (FEA-USP), opened the debate on the subject with a presentation that went from family farming to the problem of greenhouse gas emissions in Brazil.

Guilhoto showed that family farms in Brazil could have many positive effects, such as absorbing labor, reducing the rural exodus and pressures on the large urban centers, and contributing to income generation. But analysis of the performance of family farms compared to agriculture companies shows that former are much less efficient than the latter.

According to Guilhoto, public policies to increase the competitiveness of family farms in Brazil may have beneficial results, especially those that provide formal education and access to credit.

“Domestic agricultural production is one reason responsible for the fact that Brazil has one of the cleanest energy matrices in the world, with only a 37.3% dependency on fossil fuels. Biomass represents 31.5%,” he said.

Despite this positive characteristic, Guilhoto stated that Brazil is one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases (fourth behind China, the United States and the European Union)

“And this also has to do with agricultural activity since the reason for these emissions are the changes in land use and deforestation, the latter in large part due to the utilization of land for cattle breeding and the planting of soy and sugarcane,” he said.

Yoichi Koike, professor of economics at Japan’s Ritsumeikan University was the next speaker, and he discussed many of the same points previously outlined by Guilhoto.

Koike thinks that Brazil could become the world’s “agricultural super-power,” but in order to do so, it must resolve some not inconsiderable problems, among which are the inclusion of poor farm workers and the guarantee of environmental sustainability.

“Brazilian agriculture has become more productive and mechanized, and capital intensity in the sector is growing. But the total number of rural workers and agriculture’s share in GDP have declined,” he said.

Among the restrictions on Brazil’s promising future as world agricultural leader, Koike cited infrastructure problems in general and transportation problems in particular, the low value-added products, the brand equity of these products, the exclusion of poor rural workers, issues of food safety, and threats to the environment.

Koike emphasized the domino effect that takes pasture and soybean areas to the Cerrado (due to the occupation of zones previously dedicated to sugarcane), and then from the Cerrado to the Amazon, with the ultimate effect being deforestation and its consequences. Among the consequences are emissions of greenhouse gases, the drying out of the Cerrado, and the increased intensity and frequency of rain in several areas.