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As economic development proceeds, a large proportion of the farm labour force must shift
from agriculture into other pursuits. This fundamental shift in the labour force is made
possible, of course, by an enormous increase in output per worker as agriculture becomes
modernized. This increase in output stems from various factors. Where land is plentiful the
output per worker is likely to be higher because it is possible to employ more fertilizer and
machinery per worker.
As agriculture becomes modernized, its dependence upon land as well as upon
human labour decreases. Animal power and machinery are substituted for human labour;
mechanical power then replaces animal power. The substitution of mechanical power for
animal power also reduces the need for land. The increased use of fertilizer as
modernization occurs also acts as a substitute for both land and labour; the same is true of
herbicides and insecticides. By making it possible to produce more per unit of land and per
hour of work, less land and labour are required for a given amount of output.
Agriculture has been declining since the mid-20th century in its share of the gross
domestic product and in the number of its workers; less than one-third of Brazil's labour
force is employed in farming and stock raising. The country is essentially self-sufficient in
basic foodstuffs and is a leading exporter of a wide range of tropical crops. Unlike most of
the other Latin-American countries, Brazil has increased agricultural production by greatly
enlarging its cultivated area since World War II. Yet only about 9 percent of the land area
is cultivated, much of it in small holdings using relatively primitive technology; another 20
percent is used for stock raising.
Mechanized farming is still somewhat rare in Brazil, and it is mostly employed in
the South and Southeast. Few tractors are available in the Northeast although that region
contains about half of Brazil's farms; most of these are less than 12.4 acres (five hectares)
in size, however. Some large-scale government irrigation projects have been built in the
Northeast, but they were costly and support only a limited number of farm families on
individual plots or on cotton plantations.
Sufficient water at the proper time makes possible the full use of technology in
farming--including the proper application of fertilizers, suitable crop rotations, and the use
of more productive varieties of crops. Expanding irrigation is an absolute necessity to
extend crop acreage in significant amounts; it may be the most productive of possible
improvements on present cropland. First, there is the possibility of making wider use of
irrigation in districts that already have a high rate of output. Second, there is the possibility
of irrigating nonproductive land, especially in arid zones. The greatest immediate economic
returns might well come from irrigating productive districts, but irrigation of arid zones has
a larger long-range appeal. Most of the arid zones, occupying more than one-third of the
landmass of the globe, are in the tropics. Generally, they are rich in solar energy, and their
soils are rich in nutrients, but they lack water.
Mechanization faces many obstacles before wide adoption is possible in tropical
regions. Difficult soils, stones, stumps, abundant labour, resistance from farmers, lack of
incentives, lack of skills, lack of capital, low wages, high cost of machines, lack of dealer
service, fragmented land ownership, all contribute to slow development of mechanization.
Tropical soils differ markedly from those in the countries that manufacture
land-preparation machinery, making adaptation of new design necessary. The encountering
of stones, wood, trash, and termite mounds causes machines to break down. Depressing
climatic conditions reduce the performance of the machine operators. Tropical farm
regions are notoriously irregular or mountainous, impeding intensive machine culture. The
best soils in Brazil require special erosion controls, reducing the potential for large-scale
mechanization. One of the greatest overall impediments to mechanization is the fear that
unemployment might result from it, a failure to understand that economic development and
higher living standards depend partly on increasing the productivity of labour.
Taking the largest view of possibilities for improving tropical agriculture, the most
promising inputs of technology are improved crop varieties and increased use of fertilizers.
 
 

 
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