Brazil is the world’s largest producer of coffee, sugar cane and citrus and is the world’s second largest producer of soybeans. Agricultural production has increased more than threefold during the past 30 years and the use of mineral fertilizers has increased correspondingly. Multidisciplinary agricultural research has permitted a major agricultural development of the Cerrado region, once considered to be marginal for agriculture. Advanced production techniques are used to produce the major export crops. No-till systems are currently applied on almost 40 percent of the grain crop area. While yield levels of the major export crops are good, the average yields of food crops for domestic consumption are low. Most of the numerous small-scale, often subsistence, farmers use little or no fertilizers. Rural poverty is a major problem in some regions of Brazil and could be alleviated by improved agricultural productivity.
