Abstract
The chapter provides a review of the determinants of Brazilian agribusiness development over the last decades. It argues that the presence and competitiveness of Brazilian agribusiness on the international market and overall positive economic performance is mostly the result of broad long-term domestic structural transformations, both at the macroeconomic level and within the sector, in which innovation has played a central role. Further, recent developments have not been free of contradictions. Although productivity gains have operated as a powerful growth driver, new land at frontier zones was brought into cultivation and deforestation has continued. The chapter is organised as follows: Sect. 2 documents the agrarian structure, role and performance of Brazilian agribusiness. Section 3 examines issues related to food security. Section 4 deals with the shifts in institutions and policies from state-driven to state-controlled liberalisation in Brazil. The following sections present empirical evidence on the sources of Brazilian agriculture growth and the role of the Brazilian system of innovation in agriculture. The concluding section outlines the obstacles and challenges for Brazilian agribusiness, including environmental and social relations that have become sensitive issues, whose consequences upon both the agricultural pattern of growth and sector governance cannot be ignored.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Agribusiness is composed of four sectors: raw materials, agriculture, industry and distribution.
- 2.
This performance is the result of the re-negotiation of farmers’ debts, elimination of taxes on exports of non-manufactured products (Kandir Act), the 1999 devaluation of the Brazilian currency, high international prices of the commodities, and the emergence of animal health problems, such as mad cow disease.
- 3.
Includes production of rice, oats, rye, barley, peas, broad beans, beans, sunflower, maize, soybeans, sorghum, wheat, and triticale.
- 4.
Agricultural policy was functional, in spite of its inefficiency and overall negative side effects—at least for some producers and crops.
- 5.
The PTF is the relationship of all products and inputs measured by rates. If the total relationship of products and inputs is growing, the relationship can be interpreted as indicating that more products can be obtained from a given amount of inputs. The growth rate of the PTF is calculated as the difference between the product’s growth rate versus the overall growth rate of inputs. As is common knowledge, a higher PTF represents increases in a product in terms of more efficient use of production factors, given the use of a different technological level. Variations in the PTF over time can be the result of differences in efficiency at different moments, of variations in production scales or levels, or of technological changes (Gasques et al. 2007).
- 6.
Associação Nacional dos Fabricantes de Veículos Automotores—Brasil (Anfavea).
References
AgroStat (2011) Statistics. http://www.agricultura.gov.br. Accessed 30 Jan 2012
Alves E, Rocha DP (2010) Ganhar tempo é possível?. In: Gasques JG, Vieira Filho JER, Navarro Z (eds) A agricultura Brasileira: desempenho, desafios e perspectivas/organizadores. Ipea, Brasília
ANDA (2010) Estatísticas. http://www.anda.org.br/. Accessed 15 Feb 2010
ANFAVEA (2010) Estatísticas. http://www.anfavea.com.br/ Accessed 15 Feb 2010
Assad E, Silveira Pinto H (eds) (2008) Global warming and future Brazilian agriculture scenarios. Embrapa and Cepagri/Unicamp. http://www.agritempo.gov.br/climaeagricultura/download.html. Accessed 5 March 2012
Balsadi OVO (2007) Mercado de trabalho assalariado na agricultura brasileira no período 1992–2004 e suas diferenciações regionais. Tese (Doutorado), Instituto de Economia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas
Barros G (2008) Brazil: the challenges in becoming an agricultural superpower. http://www.brookings.edu/papers/2008/05_brazil_agriculture_barros.aspx. Accessed 15 Feb 2010
Buainain AM (2008) Reforma agrária por conflitos a gestão dos conflitos de terras no Brasil, in: Luta Pela Terra. In: Buainain AM (ed) Reforma Agrária e Gestão de Conflitos no Brasil, Coleção Instituições, Agricultura e Desenvolvimento Sustentável, 1st edn, vol 1. Editora Unicamp, Campinas, pp 17–128
Buainain A, Vieira Filho JE, Silveira JM (2005) Agricultural development in Brazil. Campinas, Instituto de Economia da Unicamp. Document prepared for the Seminario Internacional: la inovacion em el sector rural de la América del Sur, IFPRI. Lima, Peru
CEPEA/USP/CNA (2011) Agribusiness GDP—1994 to 2011. http://www.cepea.esalq.usp.br/pib. Accessed 5 Jan 2011
CNA (2008) Agronegócio é questão de Estado, por Kátia Abreu. http://www.cna.org.br/site/noticia.php?n=20686. Accessed 16 Jan 2009
CONSEPA (2011) OEPAS—Organizações Estaduais de Pesquisa Agropecuária. http://www.consepa. org.br/. Accessed 14 Jan 2011
Di Sabatto A, Buainain AM, Guanziroli C (2011) Dez anos de evolução da agricultura familiar: 1996–2006. In 49º Congresso da Sober (Sociedade Brasileira de Economia, Administração e Sociologia Rural). 24 a 27 de julho de 2011, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. http://www.sobre.org.br. Accessed 30 Oct 2011
Embrapa (2011a) Information on Embrapa’s web site. http://www.embrapa.br. Accessed 14 Jan 2011
Embrapa (2011b) Organizações Estaduais de Pesquisa Agropecuária—OEPAs. http://www.embrapa.br. Accessed 14 Jan 2011
Faccion CE (2010) Pesquisa agropecuária brasileira e as organizações estaduais de pesquisa agropecuária. Seminários do Programa de Pós-graduação em Agronomia/Fitotecnia, 2º semestre. http://www.prpg.ufla.br/ppg/fitotecnia/noticia_detail.php?id=15. Accessed 31 Jan 2011
FAOSTAT (2011) Statistics. http://www.faostat.fao.org. Accessed 5 Jan 2011
Fonseca M, Dal Pozand ME, Silveira JM (2004). Direitos de propriedade intelectual em biotecnologia: um processo de construção. In: Silveira JM et al (eds) Biotecnologia e recursos genéticos: desafios e oportunidades para o Brasil. Instituto de Economia/Unicamp/Finep, Campinas
Gasques JG, Rezende GC, Villa Verde CM, Salerno MS, Conceição JCPR, Carvalho JCS (2004) Desempenho e crescimento do agronegócio no Brasil. Texto para discussão nº 1.009/Ipea. http://www.desafios2.ipea.gov.br/pub/td/2004/td_1009.pdf. Accessed 15 Feb 2010
Gasques JG, Bastos ET, Contini E, Saab AA, Freire da Silva L (2007) Projeções do Agronegócio, Mundial e do Brasil. MAPA-AGE Assessoria de Gestão Estratégica. http://www.sober.org.br/palestra/6/1127.pdf. Accessed 18 Feb 2010
Gasques JG, Bastos ET, Bacchi MRP, Valdes C (2011) Produtividade e crescimento da agricultura brasileira. Nota Técnica de Produtividade do Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento
Hoffmann R, Ney M (2010) Evolução recente da estrutura fundiária e propriedade rural no Brasil. (preparação para capítulo de livro)
IBGE (2006) Censo Agropecuário—2006. http://www.ibge.gov.br. Accessed 15 Feb 2010
IBGE (2010) Segurança Alimentar 2004/2009. http://www.ibge.gov.br. Accessed 14 Jan 2011
IPEADATA (2011) Statistics. http://www.ipeadata.gov.br. Accessed 30 Jan 2012
Lopes M, Arcuri P (2010) The Brazilian Agricultural Research for Development (ARD) system. Paper presented at the international workshop on fast growing economies’ role in global agricultural research for development. Beijing, February 2010
MAPA (2010) Acesso à informaäão. http://www.agricultura.gov.br/. Accessed 15 Feb 2010
MDA (2011a) Programa Nacional de Fortalecimento da Agricultura Familiar—Pronaf. http://www.mda.gov.br. Accessed 14 Jan 2011
MDA (2011b) Programa de Aquisição de Alimentos—PAA. http://www.mda.gov.br. Accessed 14 Jan 2011
MDS (2011) Bolsa Família. http://www.mds.gov.br/. Accessed 14 Jan 2011
NEAD/MDA (2008) Estatísticas do Meio Rural (versão 2008). http://www.mda.gov.br. Accessed 15 March 2010
PAM/IBGE (2010) Pesquisa Agrícola Municipal. http://www.ibge.gov.br. Accessed 30 Jan 2012
Silveira JMFJ, Borges IC, Buainain AM (2005) Biotecnologia e agricultura: da ciência e tecnologia aos impactos da inovação, 2nd edn, vol 19. São Paulo em Perspectiva, São Paulo, pp 101–114
Vieira Filho JE (2010) Capítulo 3: trajetória tecnológica e aprendizado no setor agropecuário. In: Gasques JG, Vieira Filho JE, Navarro Z (eds) A agricultura brasileira: desempenho, desafios e perspectivas. http://www.ipea.gov.br. Accessed 31 Jan 2011
Vieira Júnior PA (2006) Previsão dos atributos do clima e do rendimento de grãos de milho na região Centro-Sul do Brasil. Tese (Doutorado em Fitotecnia), Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo
Zylbersztajn D (2008) Persistência de instituições ineficientes, O estado de São Paulo, 6 set. http://www.estadao.com.br. Accessed 6 Sept 2008
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Buainain, A., Garcia, R. (2015). Recent Development Patterns and Challenges of Brazilian Agriculture. In: Shome, P., Sharma, P. (eds) Emerging Economies. Springer, New Delhi. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-2101-2_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-2101-2_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New Delhi
Print ISBN: 978-81-322-2100-5
Online ISBN: 978-81-322-2101-2
eBook Packages: Business and EconomicsEconomics and Finance (R0)