Land-use Trends in the Brazilian Amazon Region as Factors in Accelerating Deforestation

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Abstract
In Amazonia, land-uses requiring large inputs of labour and other resources per hectare, such as annual and perennial crops, can be expected to decrease in relative importance as compared with uses such as cattle ranching and forest cutting for timber and charcoal. Cattle ranching has already claimed the largest share of cleared areas in the region, even in comparatively fertile areas including Rondônia in southwestern Amazonia where crops such as cacao account for most credit disbursement and official fanfare. The trend to cattle pasture includes expansion within small-farmer settlement zones—a process spurred by turnover in the colonist population. In other areas of the region, the trend to ranching stems from continued proliferation and expansion of large concerns which profit both from speculative gains and various governmental subsidies.

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