Maclean et al. - 2002 - Rice almanac source book for the most important e

Brazil
General information
• GNI per capita PPP$, 2000: 7,300
• Internal renewable water resources: 5,190
km 3
• Incoming water flow: 1,760 km 3
• Main food consumed: sugar and honey, oil
and fat, rice, wheat, meat
• Rice consumption, 1999: 40.3 kg milled rice
per person per year
Production season
Planting Harvesting
South, main season Oct-Nov Mar-Apr
Northeast, main season Mar-May Aug-Nov
North, main season Nov-Dec Apr-Jun
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
122 Rice almanac