Non-Traditional Agriculture and Economic Development: The Brazilian Soybean Expansion, 1964 - 1982
Soskin, Anthony B.
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/77434
Description
Title
Non-Traditional Agriculture and Economic Development: The Brazilian Soybean Expansion, 1964 - 1982
Author(s)
Soskin, Anthony B.
Issue Date
1986
Department of Study
Economics
Discipline
Economics
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Economics, Agricultural
Language
eng
Abstract
This study seeks to examine the issues involved in the promotion of a non-traditional agricultural crop as a means of furthering economic development. It traces the history and impact of the expansion of the Soybean crop on the Brazilian economy between 1964 and 1982. In particular the study seeks to identify the implications for Brazilian economic development of the support for the rapid growth of a non-traditional agricultural crop such as soybeans, and to link the Brazilian experience to some of the classical theories of economic development.
The Study analyses the objectives of the Brazilian Government over the period, the agricultural policies and the policy instruments put into place to achieve these objectives, and the micro and macro impact upon the relevant sectors of the economy. In addition the study examines the importance of the Soybean expansion upon Brazil's foreign trade.
The conclusions drawn by the analysis demonstrate that the considerable success in achieving such rapid and significant expansion of the soybean crop was not without drawbacks. The soybean crop was shown to have made a positive contribution to Brazil's foreign trade and the balance of payments. The study shows, however, that the linkages formed by the soybean economy are substantially with the modern sector rather than the traditional. The expansion was based largely upon imported technology, and much of the growth was shown to have been at the expense of traditional domestic staple crops upon which the poorer groups in Brazilian society depend.
Although the soybean crop made a significant contribution to agricultural growth and the increase in overall farm incomes, the divisions within agriculture and between regions were in fact deepened. Little has been achieved in terms of redressing the inequities in farm structure nor has the expansion of the soybean crop acted to stem the flow of the rural poor moving to the urban centers.
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