GEO Brasil - UNEP

that, it may be a possible solution to
reduce the need for occupation and
agricultural use of land by increasing
agricultural income, production and
productivity To accomplish that, it is
necessary to implement new credit
policies in order to enable
technological investment and access
to credit to overcome high financial
costs These policies should also
include the participation of small
farmers For this to occur, alternative
solutions should be found in order to
guarantees, liabilities and other issues
that cannot be controlled by these
farmers
The national livestock is the second
largest in the world, estimated in 157
million heads of cattle (32 million dairy
cattle and 125 million beef cattle)
distributed among 16 million raising
farms In order to reach these
numbers, it was necessary to recycle
pasturelands Thus, the use of
cultivated pastures prevailed over
other types of land management This
demonstrates spatial movement and
has been relatively important to the
expansion of the agricultural frontier
in Brazil A comparative analysis using
aggregated data shows that the
cultivation of pasture areas has been
done beyond land capacity, except for
the North (see figure 8)
Although this comparison does not
necessarily indicate that agricultural
activity is taking place on less
appropriate or inappropriate land, it
works as an indirect indicator of land
pressure Consequently, because of
the lower comparative profitability of
agricultural land, there is a tendency
to replace it with natural or cultivated
pastures in the South, Southeast and
MidWest Regions
A report on the average profitability
in the raising sector reveals that
medium size cattle raisers own an
average of 75 heads of cattle, which
represents a R$ 100 monthly income,
considering a 15 percent net margin
(EMBRAPA 2001- unofficial estimate
from aggregated data) These figures
illustrate the difficulties faced by
small producers and the pressure
exerted on less appropriate land like
that situated in mountainous regions
of the Southeast Thus, there is a
need for programmes and policies
regarding agriculture diversification/
organisation, pasture and soil
recovery and even the reforestation
of threatened biomes
Pasture degradation is a cause for
concern in Brazil, chiefly because of the
current extension of land in use Even
though technological alternatives are
available, the low profitability, specially
of small and medium cattle raisers,
Figure 7 - Evolution of meat production in Brazil.
Thousand tons
10000
Chicken Beef Pork
8000
6410 7321
5811
6000
5217
5921
3411
4000
2446
1845
2357 1898 2167
2000
705
1000
1050
1615
217 632
0
1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002
Source: Embrapa - 2001 e ANUALPEC - 1999 / 2000
leads to reduced use of soil and pasture
management technology
3 Land Degradation
Land degradation is associated to
edaphic, climatic and human factors
The intensity and development of
these processes are increased by the
inadequate use and handling of land -
indiscriminate deforestation,
overexploitation of the soil, intensive
use of disk harrows in soil preparation
The latter exposes the soil to severe
weather conditions and lead to gradual
destruction of physical, chemical and
biological properties of the soil
Overgrazing is the main sign of land
degradation in Brazil and erosion is
its main cause
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Erosion
The main agricultural model adopted
in the country is based on the use of
fossil energy and chemicals, intensive
mechanisation and a strong concern
about economic efficiency towards
productivity gains Still nowadays, the
soil is intensively prepared through the
use of ploughs and disk harrows
Consequently, erosion is triggered by
factors such as the exposure of the
soil to the sun and the rain, destruction
of its aggregates, formation of compact
layers, decrease in permeability and
infiltration All this results in great
losses of soil heritage
Water erosion is the main type of soil
degradation in Brazil, and it occurs in
the state of the environment in Brazil
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