GEO Brasil - UNEP

soil conditions
the state of environment in Brazil
R$ 37 billion Out of the total number of holdings, 4,139,369
are owned by smallholders, totalling 1078 million ha
Smallholdings are responsible for R$ 18,1 billion out of
total GPV total and rural incentives for these holdings
amounted to R$ 937 million Large landholders own 554,501
farms occupying 240 million ha The remaining numbers
refer to holdings that could not be classified under a certain
category
A regional analysis
points to the
importance of
smallholdings in the
North and South In
both regions, more
than 50 percent of GPV
is produced by
smallholders In the
North, smallholdings
amount to 854
percent, occupy 375
percent of the area and
produce 58,3 percent of
GPV in the region They
are granted 386 percent of total agricultural incentives
In those regions, land is mostly cultivated with the use of
old-fashioned technology (management level A) Thus,
poorly mechanised smallholdings prevail in an itinerant
fashion Burning causes acute pressure on soils, and soil
productivity is reduced by high temperatures, elevated rain
precipitation levels and small average farm sizes
In the Southeast, the highest concentration of ownership
in a minority of landowners can be found Agricultural
incentives for smallholdings are disproportionate to the
area that they occupy Smallholders own 292 percent of
the total area but receive only 126 percent of the
agricultural incentives Mountainous parts in the
Southeast are under pressure of use, as smallholders
usually found in this region are penalised by the lack of
financial resources that would enable the adoption of new
technology, mechanisation and alternative products All
this is added up to the limited size of land holdings
The Northeast has the largest number of smallholders
(883 percent), which occupy 435 percent of the region,
produce 43 percent of the regional GPV and are allocated
only 268 percent of total incentives The historical
occurrence of severe climate as well as the insufficient
amount of agricultural land has been leading to a
progressive depletion of natural vegetation cover and
overexploitation of the soil As a consequence, production
capacity decreases causing erosion and desertification in
more serious cases
This has triggered a
search for land with a
lower use potential,
which increases the risk
of overusing and
degrading soil
resources This may be
observed in already
degraded pastures and
erosion processes
found in these regions
In the North, high
temperatures and
frequent rain bring about more intensive depletion in soil
productivity and pastures These lands have been recently
occupied by croplands In the Northeast, due to the
vulnerability of the Caatinga, this is a concerning indicator,
as there is a risk of desertification
In general terms, when cultivating pasture farmers usually
manage to do soil correction through the use of shortcycled
cultivation (maize and rice among others) However,
they cannot afford to manage this cultivation through
fertilisation maintenance and proper handling techniques
Thus, overpasturing may occur In the same fashion, the
use of burning to handle and recover pastures during dry
periods dramatically affects soil conservation and other
natural resources
Regarding cattle production, there was an expansion caused
by an increase in the number of pastures Also, as expansion
has been occurring steadily, it may be associated to a
progressive mechanisation in the sector There are several
examples of this modernisation, such as public and private
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