CORE UNIT: REGIONAL GEOGRAPHY Fig. 12 Drying coffee beans in the sun is slow and labour intensive.
As previously mentioned, coffee plants need a tropical climate, well-drained soils and an altitude above 700 m. These requirements make a large part of the state of western Bahia also suitable for coffee production. Here the climate is ideal, the soils are moderately sandy and the altitude over most of the area is above 700 m. In western Bahia coffee growers are converting large areas of woody grassland (savanna/cerrado) into coffee plantations. To do this the cerrado vegetation is knocked down by pulling a heavy chain or cable between two tractors across the land. Woodcutters saw, remove and sell the larger wood to the soya bean processing mills in the area to use as fuel. The remaining brushwood is burned. The land is then ploughed, fertilised and planted with coffee trees. There are environmental concerns about the loss of unique plants and animals in this fragile ecosystem due to clearance for coffee growing.
BLOOM BUD JAN FEB MAR BUD
APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC HARVEST
Fig. 13 Coffee crop calendar for most of south-central Brazil Cattle production
The scale of cattle production is quite high compared to Ireland. One thousand hectares and six hundred cows are needed to make a reasonable living. Meadows and pastures occupy about 19% of the country. Clearing rainforest for beef production is controversial and has led to demands by environmentally-conscious consumers to have beef produced on land that has not been taken from rainforests.
SIX QUICK FACTS ON CATTLE PRODUCTION IN BRAZIL
1. Brazil has over 165 million cattle – almost one for each person in the country. 2. Over 35 million cattle are slaughtered each year.
3. Brazilians consume on average 38 kg of beef per person each year. Brazil is ranked third in beef consumption, behind Argentina and Australia.
4. Brazil has the world’s largest commercial cattle herd. 5. Ten per cent of beef is exported and this figure is increasing. 6. Brazil is the world’s largest exporter of beef.