The False Dichotomy Between Preservation Of The Natural Vegetation And Food Production In Brazil [a Falsa Dicotomia Entre A Preservação Da Vegetação Natural E A Produção Agropecuária]

Through the analysis of census data on land use in Brazil this article shows that the dichotomy between food production and preservation of natural vegetation used as the main driver to change the Forest Code is false. We showed here that Brazil has already cleared an area large enough that support the production of food, fiber and bioenergy to meet the requirements of the country and global markets. We also showed the area of export-oriented crops like soybean and sugar cane have been expanded significantly in the last decades, while staple crops like rice and bean have decreased and the area planted with cassava has been stable for the last four decades. At the same time we show that the productivity of export-oriented crops has increased in a much more significant rate than staple crops or cattle stocking rate, which in average is extremely low in Brazil. We concluded by stating that the real constraint for food production in Brazil does not rely on the Forest Code environmental restrictions but instead in inequalities in land distribution and income, coupled with lack of credit to small producers and investment in research and development in the staples crops of the country.104323330Barros, G., Brazil: The Challenges in Becoming an Agricultural Superpower (2008) Brazil as an economic superpower? Understanding Brazil's changing role in the global economy, pp. 2-35. , (L. Brainard & L. Martinez-Diaz, ed.). Brookings Institution Press, Washington, D.CBoddey, R.M., Macedo, R., Tarre, R.M., Ferreira, E., Oliveira, O.C., Rezende, C.P., Nitrogen cycling in Brachiaria pastures: The key to understanding the process of pasture decline (2004) Agric. Ecosyst. Environ, 103, pp. 389-403Cantarutti, R.B., Tarre, R., Macedo, R., Cadisch, G., Rezende, C.D., Pereira, J.M., Braga, J.M., Boddey, R.M., The effect of grazing intensity and the presence of a forage legume on nitrogen dynamics in Brachiaria pastures in the Atlantic forest region of the south of Bahia, Brazil (2002) Nutr Cycl Agroecosys, 64, pp. 257-271(2010), http://www.faostat.org/, FAOSTAT/ (ultimo acesso em 23/07/2010)Sistema IBGE de Recuperação Automática - SIDRA (2010), http://www.ibge.br/sidra/, Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística - IBGE, (ultimoacesso em 25/07/2010)Lapola, D.M., Schaldach, R., Alcamo, J., Bondeau, A., Koch, J., Koelking, C., Priess, J.A., Indirect land-use changes can overcome carbon savings from biofuels in Brazil (2010) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci, , doi/10.1073/pnas.0907318107Morton, D.C., Defries, R.S., Shimabukuro, Y.E., Anderson, L.O., Arai, A., Espirito-Santo, D.B.F., Freitas, R., Morisette, J., Cropland expansion changes deforestation dynamics in the Southern Brazilian Amazon PNAS, 103, pp. 14637-14641Nepstad, D., Soares-Filho, B., Merry, F., Lima, A., Moutinho, P., Carter, J., Bowman, M., Stella, O., The end of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon (2009) Science, 326, pp. 1350-1351Pastore, J., Brazilian agriculture research - export vs nutrition (1977) Food Policy, pp. 217-227Pereira, J.M., Tarre, R.M., Macedo, R., Paula Rezende, C., Alves, B.J.R., Urquiaga, S., Boddey, R.M., Productivity of Brachiaria humidicola pastures in the Atlantic forest region of Brazil as affected by stocking rate and the presence of a forage legume (2009) Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems, 83, pp. 179-196Rueda, B.L., Blake, R.W., Nicholson, C.F., Fox, D.G., Tedeschi, L.O., Pell, A.N., Fernandes, E.C.M., Carneiro, J.C., Production and economic potentials of cattle in pasture-based systems of the western Amazon region of Brazil (2003) J. Anim. Sci, 81, pp. 2923-293