Policy, Technology, and Efficiency of Brazilian Agriculture

Nicholas Rada and Constanza Valdes

No 127498, Economic Research Report from United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service

Abstract: The Brazilian agricultural sector has been transformed from a traditional system of production with low use of modern technologies to a world agricultural leader. That transformation occurred as the country moved away from import-substitution policies—which nurtured domestic industrial development at the expense of agriculture—toward market-oriented policy reforms. These reforms included openness to foreign trade and foreign investment and the use of new technologies, which led to a new growth pattern. To evaluate that transformation, the authors use agricultural censuses spanning 1985-2006 to characterize Brazilian total factor productivity growth, decomposing that growth into technical and effi ciency changes. This report presents the fi ndings of a study that focuses on the effect of Brazil’s science and technology investments and other public policies on farm production. The fi ndings indicate that agricultural research benefi ts have been most rapidly adopted by the most effi cient farms, widening the productivity gap between these farms and average farms. That gap, however, has been narrowed through other public policies, such as rural credit and infrastructure investments, that favor average producers.

Keywords: Agricultural and Food Policy; International Development; Production Economics; Productivity Analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 43
Date: 2012-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr and nep-eff
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (19)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:uersrr:127498

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.127498

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