Economics of cocoa production in Brazil
Cocoa has been an important crop for Brazil since the late nineteenth century. However, total neglect of and, during one period, the conscious draining of resources away from, the cocoa region resulted in a decline in Brazil's share of the world cocoa market. Moreover, cocoa farmers expanded their plantings when cocoa prices rose and moved into increasingly marginal soils. Even the better soils were exhausted; and more recently, as this process reached its physical limits, the average age of the cocoa tree increased. All this occurred without any significant modification in the technology employed. In 1957 the first step in reversing this decline was taken by the federal government with the creation of CEPLAC. Nevertheless, it was only in December 1962 that the second and decisive step was taken with the establishment of CEPEC. By 1968, research carried out by CEPEC had completely transformed the technological opportunities facing the Brazilian cocoa industry. However, this technological progress was only beginning to be embodied in new hybrid cocoa trees, the use of chemical agents to control cocoa diseases and insect pests, and the employment of modern fertilizers. The techniques of organization and financing that made this technological progress possible can be utilized to benefit other crops and regions in Brazil--and, for that matter, anywhere in the world where agriculture is still viewed as a traditional extractive activity rather than a process that uses the best of what modern science and industry have to offer in the way of improved inputs that make possible greatly expanded output
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| Format: | biblioteca |
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New York, N.Y. (EUA) Praeger Publishers
1976
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| Subjects: | THEOBROMA CACAO, PRODUCCION, EXPORTACIONES, TECNOLOGIA, COSTOS DE PRODUCCION, CLIMA, SUELOS, TENENCIA, CAPITAL, INSTITUCIONES DE INVESTIGACION, CEPLAC, CEPEC, EDUCACION, CREDITO, INVERSIONES, BRASIL, |
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