The transport infrastructure go-ahead the expansion of soybean cultivation in Brazil

Abstract

The soybean is the main crop of the Brazilian agricultural sector, both for the area it occupies as by the impact on the gross domestic product of the country. The comparative technological advantages in the production of this commodity put Brazil as the second largest producer and supplier of the world. However, the limitations of the logistics infrastructure for the disposal of production raise the costs of transport. The paper was developed from a historical and economic recovery soybean cultivation and the transport infrastructure, in the period from 1975 to 2005, based on descriptive methodology. Overall, while growth of soybean area cultivated was 305% in the period analyzed, the transport infrastructure was only 25.3%. This study shows that the expansion of the occupied area by the soybean crop, due to technological advances, was not accompanied by the development of transport infrastructure, undermining their competitiveness.