Brazil has almost 50 million hectares under annual and permanent crops, with in addition a large reserve of land with agricultural potential. Brazil is the world’s largest producer of coffee, sugar cane and citrus and the second largest producer of soybeans. It has the world’s second largest cattle population.
There is a close relationship between the consumption of fertilizers and crop production in Brazil. Between 1970 and 2001 agricultural production in Brazil, represented by the sixteen most important crops, increased by 3.4 times and the consumption of fertilizers increased by 4.4 times. During this period the cropped area increased only 1.5 times, rising from 36.4 million ha to 56.2 million ha.
On the one hand advanced production technologies are widely used for the production of export crops (coffee, sugar cane, citrus and soybeans). These technologies include not only appropriate rates of fertilization but also the implementation of a series of other agronomic recommendations.
On the other hand, the average yields of food crops for domestic consumption compare unfavourably with those of countries with advanced agricultural technology, although some farmers achieve yields that are substantially higher than the average. The problem of low average yields is therefore due not to a lack of agricultural technologies but to the poor implementation of these technologies, including inappropriate mineral fertilizer application. In the case of subsistence farming, which is practised in the poorer areas of the country, especially in the Northeast region, practically no mineral fertilizers are used. The use of fertilizers on food crops is constrained by their relatively low prices. The prices of rice, beans and maize, for example, fell by about 20 percent in terms of US dollars between 1993 and 2002.
Brazil is characterized by the co-existence of large estates with a large number of small farms. Almost half the 4.8 million farms are of less than 10 ha and 89 percent have less than 100 ha, occupying one fifth of the agricultural area. However, apart from sugar cane, and to a lesser extent soybean, rice and citrus, agricultural establishments possessing less than 100 ha are responsible for a substantial proportion of the agricultural production of the country.
Since the 1970s the government has promoted the settling of the Centre West region, known as the Cerrado, whose total area amounts to 207 million ha. This area was once considered to be marginal for agricultural production. However, today the Cerrado accounts for 43 percent of the Brazilian production of beef cattle, 23 percent of the coffee, 34 percent of the rice, 59 percent of the soybeans and 29 percent of the maize. This has been made possible by research in different agronomic science disciplines, including the development of appropriate fertilization and soil amendment systems.
Another important development is that of “no-till” systems. It is estimated that no-till systems are currently applied on almost 40 percent of the grain area in Brazil, or about of 25 million hectares.
In general, the fertilizer nutrient balance in the Brazilian agriculture is unsatisfactory. The quantities of nutrients removed are higher than the quantities supplied. Thus soils are being progressively depleted of nutrients. This represents a threat to long-term agricultural sustainability. As regards the ratio between the nutrients, by international standards the use of nitrogen is low in relation to phosphate and potash. Concerning the types of fertilizers, Brazil has an unusually high proportion of nutrients, over 80 percent, applied in the form of compound fertilizers. It is also one of the few countries where the use of single superphosphate has increased in recent years, partly due to the demand for this fertilizer for use on soybeans, owing to its sulphur content.
In Chapter 10 of this publication suggestions are made concerning measures that might be taken to help to remedy certain major agricultural and social problems. The transformation of subsistence agriculture into profitable family farms is needed for the alleviation of rural poverty. However, a survey in 1995/1996 revealed that only 4.1 percent of the farmers in the Northeast region, where the largest number of small farms in the country is concentrated, had some kind of advice from the official rural extension service.
