Recent developments and prospects for agriculture in Espírito Santo

Abstract

Espírito Santo, located in southeastern Brazil, is the country’s leading producer of Canephora coffee (62%), black pepper (61%), and papaya (31%), and is also an important producer of bananas (6%) and cocoa (4%). Despite this productive relevance, agriculture plays a limited role in the state's export portfolio, which is dominated by the mining sector (31% of exports). Analysis of production growth rates from 2013 to 2022 reveals that black pepper recorded the highest increase (31% per year), followed by positive growth in the production of eggs, poultry, bananas, tomatoes, and cocoa. In contrast, forestry, cattle, milk, sugarcane, and pig production declined, while coffee and papaya remained stable. In foreign trade, unroasted, non-decaffeinated coffee is the state’s main agricultural export (9.6% of total exports), though it shows an annual decline of -2.7%. Cellulose, the second most exported agricultural product (8%), also declined by -2.6% annually. On the other hand, black pepper accounts for 1.8% of exports and is growing at 2.5% per year; ginger, although representing only 0.4% of total exports, recorded the highest growth rate (23% per year); and papaya is increasing by 3.4% annually.