Travel through time in various parts of Brazil guided by Agricultural Census

Abstract

This work deals with urbanization, regional development, rural exodus, technology and concentration of agricultural production, based on information from the agricultural censuses, with emphasis on the last census (2006). Even though agriculture in the last 10 years has doubled its production, the regional structure and problems have not changed significantly, except for the Midwest. The main conclusions are: (1) Brazil has a dual agriculture, with a very successful agribusiness, in which 11.4% of the establishments produced 87% of the gross income; (2) The technology explains most of the gross income variation (except for the North), with emphasis on the South region, that makes a 90% contribution; (3) The marginalized, in terms of technology, populate all regions where market imperfections make modern technologies unprofitable for small scale production; (4) The Northeast has the main shelter of rural poverty due to benefits from income transfer programs; (5) Without irrigation there is no solution for the low income and misery of Northeastern farmers; (6) In 2006, 55.64% of the Brazilian rural establishments obtained net negative income, which reflects a serious problem of administration of the establishments and obliges us to rescue the assistance based on Farm Management; (7) Specific public policies are recommended that can promote change from the very poor to the poor and from the poor to the middle class level (8) Finally, it should be noted that the vast majority of establishments in each region belong to the “area class of up to 100 ha”. So we have: North, 83.86%; Northeast, 95.12%; Southeast, 89.18%; South, 93.78%; And Center West, 68.63%. This class concentrates most of family farming, and public policy with the same name struggles to solve the poverty problem primarily through income transfer policies.