brief camparison of agriculture in india and brazil
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The agriculture of Brazil is historically one of the principal bases of Brazil's Coffee wealth accentuated the differences between the Brazilian regions, especially vs the Northeast.
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State of Agriculture in India
The agriculture sector employs nearly half of the workforce in the country. However, it contributes to 17.5% of the GDP (at current prices in 2015-16).
India’s production of food grains has been increasing every year, and India is among the top producers of several crops such as wheat, rice, pulses, sugarcane and cotton. It is the highest producer of milk and second highest producer of fruits and vegetables. In 2013, India contributed 25% to the world’s pulses production, the highest for any one country, 22% to the rice production and 13% to the wheat production. It also accounted for about 25% of the total quantity of cotton produced, besides being the second highest exporter of cotton for the past several years.
· However, the agricultural yield (quantity of a crop produced per unit of land) is found to be lower in the case of most crops, as compared to other top producing countries such as China, Brazil and the United States.
· Although India ranks third in the production of rice, its yield is lower than Brazil, China and the United States. The same trend is observed for pulses, where it is the second highest producer.
· Agricultural growth has been fairly volatile over the past decade, ranging from 5.8% in 2005-06 to 0.4% in 2009-10 and -0.2% in 2014-15.
· Such a variance in agricultural growth has an impact on farm incomes as well as farmers’ ability to take credit for investing in their land holdings.
State of Agriculture of India
Agricultural productivity depends on several factors. These include the availability and quality of agricultural inputs such as land, water, seeds and fertilizers, access to agricultural credit and crop insurance, assurance of remunerative prices for agricultural produce, and storage and marketing infrastructure, among others. This report provides an overview of the state of agriculture in India. It discusses factors related to the production and post-harvest activities in agriculture.
Brazil Agriculture
Agriculture is an important industry in Brazil, as this country has immense agricultural resources available to it. Its most significant products in this sphere are coffee, soybeans, wheat, rice, corn, sugarcane, cocoa, citrus and beef (in order of importance).
Its most significant exports are coffee, soybeans, beef, sugar cane, ethanol and frozen chickens.
Southern Brazil
This makes up close to two-thirds of the country and is characterised by a semi-temperate, or moderate, climate.
Northeast Brazil
This agricultural area is far drier and less equipped. It often succumbs to droughts, and lacks infrastructure, capital and good soil, due to minimal rainfall. This area is occupied mainly by subsistence farmers (who survive off of their produce). However, there are certain crops from this region that are essential for export; such as cocoa, tropical fruits and forest products.
Central Brazil has, for generations, been considered to be unsuitable for farming. However, this area (partly known as cerrados) is now booming, being used extensively for mechanised crop agriculture.
Vast expanses of this land are still to be developed, being used only in pasture, but having the potential to produce excellent farming and exporting crops. This area was once very isolated, due to there being a lack of roads and other important infrastructure. That all changed in the 1960’s, when Brasilia was established and made the new country capital. Livestock farming began in the area and was thought to be the only viable type of agriculture, since the soils were poor in quality and unable to sustain crops. However, it was discovered that soybeans actually thrived in these conditions, particularly with the ever-developing means of cultivating these tough soils. Today, a number of crops are grown here.
Cattle farming remains one of this country’s key industries, since Brazil produces millions of tonnes of beef every year. Cattle farming occurs mainly in Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Goiás and Minas Gerais.
Significantly, Brazil is also the second-largest producer of soybeans on the planet. These beans and their derivatives are used extensively all over the world. Mato Grosso and Paraná together produce almost half of the entire country’s soybean volume.
Brazil is the global leader in the production of sugarcane, harvesting more than 600 million tonnes of it every year. The states responsible for the growth of sugarcane include São Paulo, Pernambuco, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso, Goiás and Paraná, amongst others.
The agriculture of Brazil presents a number of problems. For one, deforestation occurs to make room for agricultural areas. This causes greenhouse gas emissions and drastically reduces the amount of oxygen available to the world. It also reduces the natural habitat of many species of plants and animals, having devastating effects on their numbers.