GEO Brasil - UNEP

soil conditions
the state of the environmet in Brazil
Table 3 - Current land use in Brazil (*)
I. Lands used with economic purposes Millions of
Hectares
. Temporary croplands (1) 38.5
. Temporary iddle crop lands 4.0
. Permanent crop lands 7.5
. Cultivated pastures 99.7
. Natural pastures 78.0
. Artificial forests 5.4
. Irrigated lands 3.0
SUB TOTAL 236.1
II. Lands with other uses
. Amazon Forest (encompasses all types of reserves) 365.0
. Indigenous Reserves (2) (approved, reserved or in identification process out the
Amazon Forest) 101.9
. Urban centres, lakes, roads, and rivers (3) 30.0
. State-owned lands 6.1
. Iddle productive lands 16.3
. Other uses, or indefinite 99.3
SUB TOTAL 618.6
TOTAL 854.7
(*) Table adapted from the book " Os Caminhos da Agricultura Brasileira" (The Paths for Brazilian Agriculture), Espírito
Santo, Benedito Rosa - 2001
Sources: IBGE - Agricultural Census - 1996. / 1- CONAB - Safra Estimates - 2000/01 /
Regarding silviculture, the South is also highlighted as around 48 percent of land
have a good to regular potential (14 percent and 34 percent, respectively) The
remaining lands (52 percent) are rated as restricted Despite the high percentage
of land with a restricted potential (67 percent), the Northeast has 31 percent of
land classified as regular, and only 2 percent considered good for silviculture
(Table 2)
Once again, the South stands out positively concerning the use of land for
natural pastures, presenting 60 percent of good potential for this activity The
Northeast comes second with regular (33 percent) and restricted (67 percent)
potentials The other regions are mostly restricted for natural pastures
13 Land use nowadays
Among the varied uses of the solos
identified by the Agricultural Census
of 1996, agriculture and cattle raising
activities occupy nowadays
approximately 276 percent of the
territory (Table 3) Permanent
preservation areas and already
delimited ones represent about 55
million hectares It is estimated that
this percentage will come up to 10
percent of the national territory with
new delimitation in progress
Although that is an expressive
estimate, it is still insufficient for the
preservation of the various biomes in
Brazil
An analysis of the productive structure
in the country reveals that the main use
of the soil is for cattle ranching Thus,
21 percent of the Brazilian territory is
occupied with pastures, which
represents three times as much as the
lands for permanent cultivation and
crops Regionally speaking, the use of
natural pastures is still relevant, despite
regional climate differences, land
value, cultural patterns, productive
opportunities and agricultural
technology implementation (Figure 2)
As for cultivated pastures, the Central
West stands out in relation to the
others, with 46 million hectares, or
almost half of all cultivated pastures in
Brazil, followed by the Southeast, with
about 20 million hectares
Thus, in light of a summarised evaluation of the agricultural potential of land in
Brazil, it is clear that the country has a great potential There are 555 million
square kilometres of potentially agricultural lands, 279 million km 2 located in the
North Brazil is also endowed with a great extension (964,334km 2 ) of cultivated
pasture and silviculture
In spite of the country’s excellent
potential for soil irrigation, estimated
in 295 million hectares, its use is still
limited In 1998, an area of 287 million
52