Brazil

General information

• GNI per capita PPP$, 2000: 7,300
• Internal renewable water resources: 5,190 km³
• Incoming water flow: 1,760 km³
• Main food consumed: sugar and honey, oil and fat, rice, wheat, meat
• Rice consumption, 1999: 40.3 kg milled rice per person per year

Brazil extends from 5° N latitude at its frontier with Guyana and Venezuela to as
far south as 33° S latitude in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. The longitude limits are from 30° to 74° W.

The country lies within several AEZs: AEZ 1, warm arid and semiarid tropics; AEZ 2, warm subhumid tropics; AEZ 3, warm humid tropics; AEZ 4, cool tropics; and AEZ 8, cool subtropics with summer rainfall. The climate varies from tropical to subtropical, the latter mainly along the southern coast.

Brazil is considered an upper middle income economy. Its per capita gross national income in 2000 was about US$7,320 in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms (PPP adjusts income measures for local price levels), slightly more than one fifth of the level in the U.S. More than 40% of the population in 1995 was below a poverty line of $2 a day (again in PPP terms).

Brazil's population in 1999 was 168 million, making it the fifth most populous country in the world. The current population growth rate is about 1.3% annually, compared with 3% in the early 1960s. Urbanization has proceeded rapidly in the past 40 years, and less than 20% of the people now live in rural areas. Most of these people are employed in agriculture, which accounts for 17% of the economically active population today vis-à-vis 54% in 1961. The agricultural sector contributed 8% of GDP in 1998.

Recent developments in the rice sector
Rice per capita consumption in Brazil was 40.3 kg in 1999, which is slightly less than per capita consumption of cassava. Rice supplied 14% of the calories and 10% of the protein in the diet. In terms of area harvested, rice is the fifth most important crop in the country, behind soybeans, maize, sugarcane, and dry beans. Coffee and oranges are also important crops, especially in terms of value.

During the past twenty years, the rice area harvested declined steadily from more than 6 million ha in the early 1980s to about 3 million ha in 1998. It then partially recovered to about 3.7 million ha in the subsequent two years. All the decline in area harvested has come from upland rice systems, which accounted for about 80% of total rice area in the mid-1980s. At least part of this reduction in upland rice area was due to increased interest in soybean production in the central part of the country.

National average yields were stagnant from the early 1960s until the mid-1980s, after which they began to grow rapidly from 1.5 t/ha in 1983 to 3.0 t/ha in 2000 (an annual average growth rate of more than 4%). This increase in yields was driven largely by the reduction in upland rice area. Since upland rice has much lower yields than irrigated rice, an increased share of irrigated rice in total area leads to higher national average yields. These opposing trends have largely negated one another in recent years, and annual paddy rice production in the 1990s averaged about 9.5 million t (albeit with substantial fluctuations from year to year). This stagnation in production changed Brazil from a net rice exporter in the 1970s to a consistent net importer in the 1990s.

Rice environments
Brazil is the only country in the world where irrigated and upland rice have similar importance. Upland rice presently accounts for about two-thirds of total rice area (1998-99), but, because yields are much higher in the irrigated system, irrigated rice accounted for about 60% of production in that year.

Irrigated areas are largely planted to modern varieties. Most irrigated rice is concentrated in the two southernmost states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina. In 1998-99, irrigated rice achieved an average yield of 5.7 t/ha compared with a national average upland yield of less than 2 t/ha. In Rio Grande do Sul, which accounts for about 75% of the irrigated rice area in Brazil, big farms of about 200 ha are the norm. The cultivation system is highly mechanized, with soil preparation and sowing done in dry soil. However, minimum tillage systems also occupy large areas, and sowing of pregerminated seeds in puddled soil is also gaining in importance. These two systems are alternatives to the conventional system and allow for better control of weeds and red rice. Sowing of pregerminated seeds is dominant in Santa Catarina, where farm sizes are much smaller (average size is about 10 ha).

Much of Brazil's upland rice is planted on the Cerrado in central Brazil. Originally, rice was grown in this area primarily to facilitate deforestation. Now, it is typically done in rotation with pasture (two years of rice, three years of pasture) or soybean. Rotation is essential because of the "yield collapse" that occurs with continuous cultivation of such rice. In the second year of rice cultivation, yields typically decline by about 10%, but in the third year they can fall by as much as 70%. The cause of this problem has been variously attributed to autotoxicity, soil degradation, and soil pests. Thus, crop rotation is essential for profitable farm management.

Production constraints
Most areas planted continuously with rice are infested with weedy rice (red rice) to some degree, significantly affecting yields over time. The sowing of pregerminated seed or the use of no-till systems is helping to reduce the importance of this problem. Another production problem is the occurrence of low temperatures during flowering, primarily in the southern areas of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, where irrigated rice is common. This problem can be exacerbated when farmers delay planting because of a rainy spring. Weeds and insect pests (fall armyworm, rice water weevil, rice stem bug) also act as constraints to increased production.

The most important production constraint for upland rice is the abovementioned yield collapse. Because of the fragile structure of the Cerrado soil, soil erosion caused by wind and rain is also an important problem.

Production opportunities
Rice research is organized at both the federal and state levels. Research at the federal level is coordinated by the Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (EMBRAPA). The Centro Nacional de Pesquisa de Arroz e Feijão (CNPAF), located in the central region, conducts research on all aspects of upland rice and also develops technology for the small irrigated rice areas of central and northern Brazil. The rice program of the Centro de Pesquisa Agropecuária de Terras Baixas de Clima Temperado, also part of the EMBRAPA system, conducts research on all aspects of irrigated rice for the southern states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina. At the state level, rice research is organized under state agricultural research organizations. All rice research resources are linked through an EMBRAPA-sponsored national rice network.

The ratio of agricultural research and development expenditures to agricultural GDP in Brazil is high by Latin American standards and approaches that in high-income countries. However, since the mid-1990s, EMBRAPA's funding has declined substantially. The private sector has recently become interested in rice research, both as a donor and as a direct participant, opening up a new source of research resources. However, as of 1996, the private sector accounted for just 2% of agricultural research and development expenditures.

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