Production specialization and structural change in agriculture of the Northeast Region of Brazil (1990–2011)

Abstract

The objective of this work is to analyze the structural changes that occurred in the farming of the Northeast Region of Brazil from 1990 to 2011. The methods used were the index of production specialization and the index of structural change. The data used were the cross section type, from the Produção Agrícola Municipal (PAM), for the years of 1990, 2000 and 2011, published by IBGE. Specialization took place in 1990 and 2011, mainly with the production of sugarcane and soybean. With regard to structural changes, the results of the analysis for the subperiods of 1990 to 2000 and 2000 to 2011 showed no significant changes, since the values remained very close to 1. The greatest changes occurred in 1990–2011, for temporary and permanent crops. Therefore, there is a need for greater effort from the state and federal governments in understanding the specificities of the farming of the Northeast Region of Brazil so that the resources intended for both the production of new crops and traditional crops of each state can be expanded.