Soy Expansion and Socioeconomic Development in Municipalities of Brazil

Luiz Martinelli,Mateus Batistella,Ramon Silva,Emilio Moran

doi:10.3390/land6030062

Abstract

Soy occupies the largest area of agricultural land in Brazil, spreading from southern states to the Amazon region. Soy is also the most important agricultural commodity among Brazilian exports affecting food security and land use nationally and internationally. Here we pose the question of whether soy expansion affects only economic growth or whether it also boosts socioeconomic development, fostering education and health improvements in Brazilian municipalities where it is planted. To achieve this objective, we divided more than 5000 municipalities into two groups: those with >300 ha of soy (soy municipalities) and those with <300 ha of soy (non-soy municipalities). We compared the Human Development Index (HDI) and the Gini coefficient for income for these two groups of municipalities in 1991, 2000, and 2010. We made such comparison at the municipality level for the whole country, but we also grouped the municipalities by major geographical regions and states. We found that the HDI was higher in soy municipalities, especially in the agricultural frontier. That effect was not so clear in more consolidated agricultural regions of the country. Soy municipalities also had a higher Gini coefficient for income than non-soy municipalities. We concluded that soy could be considered a precursor of socioeconomic development under certain conditions; however, it also tends to be associated with an increase in income inequality, especially in the agricultural frontier.

Highlights

In the 53 years from 1961 to 2014, the harvested area of soy in South America increased two orders of magnitude, from 0.25 to 55 million ha
The main question addressed by this investigation is if agricultural expansion brings socioeconomic development, meaning growth in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and better income, health and education (HDI) to municipalities where it takes place [8]
This question relates to the general perception that, by supporting commodity crops such as soy, local inequality and poverty are accentuated, since such crops require large areas and less labor per hectare [35,36]

Summary

Introduction

In the 53 years from 1961 to 2014, the harvested area of soy in South America increased two orders of magnitude, from 0.25 to 55 million ha. Broaden this type of analysis from the state level to the Brazilian Amazon region, concluding that socioeconomic indicators have improved with agriculture intensification, without a direct relationship with deforestation, refuting the hypothesis of boom-and-bust development. Included all municipalities of Brazil in their analysis, grouping them according to prevalent land cover: soy, sugarcane, cattle and nonagricultural municipalities These authors found that socioeconomic indicators were better or equal in soy municipalities when compared to sugarcane dominated municipalities, and both were better than cattle and nonagricultural municipalities. In contrast with these findings, Choi and Kim [10] found that soy expansion increased poverty, especially in the northern part of the country. We advance this research area by investigating if soy brought social development by comparing the Human Development Index (HDI), created by the United Nations, and the Gini coefficient for income among Brazilian municipalities with different amounts of land dedicated to soy

Soy Distribution and Expansion in Brazil

Materials and Methods

Human Development Index and Gini Coefficient for Income

Gini Coefficient for Land Use

Discussion