Rada, N. (2013) Assessing Brazil’s Cerrado agricultural miracle. Food Policy, 38. pp. 146-155.
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Abstract
Brazil’s emergence as a primary global agricultural producer is often credited to production expansion into soils of the Brazilian savannah or Cerrado. These soils are, however, deficient in important nutrients and prone to degradation, requiring input-intensive processes that suggest a low level of productive efficiency. Employing a sequence of agricultural censuses and a biome approach for characterizing agricultural zones, the present study evaluates the Cerrado’s total factor productivity growth and productive potential. The analysis highlights the resource cost of Brazil’s “Cerrado Miracle,” the role of paved road infrastructure in expanding production opportunities, and the significant production gains that the Cerrado may yet achieve. Results suggest a substantial productivity gap between the Cerrado’s most efficient and average producers, implying that Cerrado production might well be further boosted if average producers succeed in adopting the technologies and management practices of the more efficient operators. More generally, and to the extent the Cerrado model is generalizable elsewhere, agricultural development of the world’s savannahs, such as Sub-Saharan Africa’s Guinea regions, into breadbaskets will be expensive in terms of material inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides, depending for their success therefore on the real prices of these inputs
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | Special thanks are offered to Steve Buccola of Oregon State University; Keith Fuglie of USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS); and Jose Gasques of Brazil’s Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture, and Food Supply and Institute of Applied Economic Research (IPEA). I also appreciate information from Flavio Avila of Brazil’s Embrapa Research Corporation, from Chris Dicken of USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS), and from Rafael Costa of AgriLogic Insurance Services. |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Cerrado; Brazilian agriculture; Input distance function; Stochastic frontier; Total factor productivity; Technical change; Efficiency |
| Author Affiliation: | Food Security and Development Branch, Market and Trade Economics Division, Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC 20024-3221, United States |
| Subjects: | Plant Production |
| Divisions: | General |
| Depositing User: | Mr Balakrishna Garadasu |
| Date Deposited: | 03 Feb 2013 18:10 |
| Last Modified: | 03 Feb 2013 18:10 |
| Official URL: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2012.11.002 |
| URI: | http://eprints.icrisat.ac.in/id/eprint/9450 |
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