Assessing Brazil's Cerrado agricultural miracle

摘要: Abstract Brazil’s emergence as a primary global agricultural producer is often credited to production expansion into soils of the Brazilian savannah or Cerrado. These are, however, deficient in important nutrients and prone degradation, requiring input-intensive processes that suggest low level productive efficiency. Employing sequence censuses biome approach for characterizing zones, present study evaluates Cerrado’s total factor productivity growth potential. The analysis highlights resource cost “Cerrado Miracle,” role paved road infrastructure expanding opportunities, significant gains Cerrado may yet achieve. Results substantial gap between most efficient average producers, implying might well be further boosted if producers succeed adopting technologies management practices more operators. More generally, extent model generalizable elsewhere, development world’s savannahs, such Sub-Saharan Africa’s Guinea regions, breadbaskets will expensive terms material inputs fertilizers pesticides, depending their success therefore on real prices these inputs.