Celebrate Brazil’s agricultural surge

In this climate of gloom and low expectations it is fantastically refreshing to come across anyone with a positive “can do” spirit. This is certainly the case in relation to Brazilian agriculture which, according to an article on BBC online, has enjoyed a productivity surge in recent years. As a result it has grown from being a marginal player to a position as a large international supplier of food and biofuel. What is more only 70m – 80m hectares of a potential 350m hectares of land available for agriculture is being used.

No doubt the Brazilian President Lula has his limitations but his aspirations should not be faulted:

“We have more Chinese people eating, we have more Indians eating, we have more Africans eating and we have a lot more Brazilians eating.

“All this, which is treated by the press as if it were a crisis and is sold to the world as if it were a crisis,” he said.

“Without any arrogance or self-importance, we Brazilians need to confront what for others is a crisis, as an extraordinary opportunity to truly transform ourselves into the granary of the world, as many people have long predicted.”