The Impact of Sector‐Specific and Economy‐Wide Policy Reforms on the Agricultural Sector in Brazil: 1980–98

Abstract

This article analyzes the impact of policy reforms and changing macroeconomic conditions on the Brazilian agricultural sector. It stresses four issues: events outside of agriculture were central to the performance of the sector and to the timing and sequence of policy reform; reform involved far more than trade liberalization; the impact of reform on input markets and productivity was key for understanding the period; and policy reform had a highly differentiated impact on the sector. As a result of the reforms, agriculture became the most dynamic sector of the Brazilian economy in the 1990s. Policies still in need of reform are identified. (JEL O13, Q18)

Exchange rates, soybean supply response, and deforestation in South America

“…, 1999-2003 In the 1990s a series of structural reforms in Brazil and elsewhere removed many of the policy obstacles that restricted international access to South American agricultural commodities. Reductions in tariffs and export taxes, the stabilization of the Paraguayan guaraní and the introduction of the Brazilian real, and the establishment of the Common Market of the Southern Cone (MERCOSUR), for example, eased many of the traditional barriers to agricultural exports in the southern cone (Helfand and Rezende, 2004;Hecht and Mann, 2008). Internally, the fulfillment of the transformation from military to democratic governments in Brazil and Paraguay and a trend of market liberalization shifted private investments towards the production of export commodities.…”

Growing Together Or Growing Apart ? A Village Level Study Of The Impact Of The Doha Round On Rural China

“…In their assessment of the impact of sector-specific as well as economywide reforms on Brazilian agriculture, Helfand and Rezende (2004) conclude that agriculture became one of the most dynamic sectors in the Brazilian economy. Between 1980 and 1998, real GDP grew by about 40 percent and real agricultural output by about 70 percent.…”

“…5 However, the increase in agricultural productivity was accompanied by a massive layoff of hired labor and important changes in the size distribution of farms. According to the agricultural census from 1996, the number of small farms declined dramatically, and agricultural employment shrank by 23 percent between 1986 and 1996, although these figures should be taken with some caution (Helfand and Rezende 2004).…”

Beyond the dualities: a nuanced understanding of Brazilian soybean producers

“…Allowing the agricultural sector to answer to the market incentives pushed the expansion of soybean production in the region. Contract farming with processors, traders and input suppliers became the main source for credit to export-oriented crops (Helfand and Rezende 2004;Jepson et al 2010). Since the transnational agro-industrial firms were interested in trade cash crops, credit to produce soybean became the main source of private investment in the region.…”