02318naa a2200241 a 450000100080000000500110000800800410001910000150006024500850007526000090016050001290016952015400029865000160183865000200185465000130187465000120188765000150189965000180191465300270193265300170195965300190197677300810199515518251996-08-07       1994    bl ---       0--  u    #d1 aMACEDO, J.  aProspectives for the rational use of the Brazilian cerrados for food production.  c1994  aApresentado no "Workshop on Ecology and Biodiversity", Rio de Janeiro, 1994. Texto em portugues CRI4010. Ver tambem CRI3752.  aAmong the potential lands for food production, the Savannas of South America may be considered one of the most promising areas which include the "Cerrado" of Brazil and the "Llanos" of Colombia, Venezuela and Bolivia. The Cerrados cover an area of 207 million ha of the Brazilian territory, with its larger portion in the Central Plateau. The dominant vegetation, the Cerrado, is characterized by small, crooked trees, distributed on a grass carpet. The annual average rainfall is 1500 mm, irregularly distributed into two seasons, a wet one from September to April and a dry one from May to August. Dry spells from one to three weeks are common in the wet season in the months of January or February. Around 49% of soils can be classified as Latosols. Those are soils with loamy or clayey texture, deep, well drained, found in a smooth or nearly low varying level topography. The Podzolics, Cambisols, Quartz Sands, and Hidromorphic Soils comprises 48% of the area and the rest 3% is divided between the other soil classes. It is estimated that from the 207 million ha, 136 million (equivalent to 2/3 of the area) could be incorporated into the productive process. Considering that the total area under food production is around 10 million ha with upland crops, 35 million ha with cultivated pastures and 2 million ha with perennial crops, the agriculture frontier is still 89 million ha. Uprising the productivity of the 47 million ha already occupied, it would be possible to increase the production up to 100 million ton of food...  aagriculture  afood production  aAlimento  aCerrado  aProdução  aProdutividade  aAgricultura sustentada  aProductivity  aSustainability  tAnais da Academia Brasileira de Cienciasgv.66, p.159-165, 1994. Suplemento.