A study of the effects of human-capital investment on agriculture in the state of S\u00e3o Paulo has found that every R$1 applied toward research and development (R&D), higher education, and rural extension has generated a return of R$12 to S\u00e3o Paulo\u2019s economy through improved productivity. The study, led by researchers from the University of S\u00e3o Paulo (USP), focused on the contributions made by institutions either funding, producing, or disseminating knowledge of interest to agriculture. FAPESP funding for grants, research, and infrastructure in the fields of crop science and agriculture, for example, has yielded returns of R$27 for every R$1 invested, a figure surpassed only by public universities training skilled professionals for agriculture, which return R$30 for every R$1 spent.<\/p>\n
The data from the study was published in the recently released book Contribui\u00e7\u00e3o da FAPESP ao desenvolvimento da agricultura no estado de S\u00e3o Paulo<\/em> (FAPESP\u2019s contribution to the development of agriculture in the state of S\u00e3o Paulo), which presents the findings from research conducted between 2013 and 2018. \u201cAgribusiness is the one industry keeping Brazil\u2019s economy afloat amid the crisis. This has been the result of long-term research investment and public policies that have been upheld with relative consistency by public agencies in S\u00e3o Paulo over the last 60 years,\u201d says economist Alexandre Chibebe Nicolella, a researcher at USP\u2019s Ribeir\u00e3o Preto School of Economics, Administration, and Accounting (FEARP), who led the research alongside crop scientist and economist Paulo Cidade de Ara\u00fajo from USP\u2019s Luiz de Queiroz School of Agriculture (ESALQ-USP), who passed away in 2016 at the age of 84. Funding from state agricultural research institutes such as the Campinas Institute of Agriculture (IAC) and the Food Technology Institute (ITAL), and from the S\u00e3o Paulo chapters of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA), have provided returns of R$20 for every real invested. Investments in rural extension\u2014providing technical assistance and information to farmers\u2014have delivered per-real returns of R$11.<\/p>\n S\u00e3o Paulo’s agribusiness market was worth R$267.9 billion in 2017, or 13.5% of the state’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Recent years have seen a marked expansion of the sugar and ethanol industry in the state\u2014in 2013, sugarcane plantations occupied 23% of its 24 million hectares (ha) of cropland, compared with 12% ten years prior. Crop yields grew from 80,000 to 90,000 kilograms per ha during the first decade of the century. S\u00e3o Paulo also produces 72% of Brazil\u2019s supply of citrus. Orange juice, however, accounts for only about 3% of S\u00e3o Paulo’s agribusiness GDP, notes crop scientist and economist Geraldo Sant\u2019Ana de Camargo Barros, a professor at ESALQ-USP and coauthor of the study. \u201cThe citrus industry adds very little value to the raw material. It processes R$1.66 billion worth of orange crop into R$1.97 billion worth of orange juice, or an added value of 18.7%. The sugar and ethanol industry turns R$4.8 billion worth of sugarcane into R$13.6 billion of sugar and ethanol, almost tripling the value of the raw material,\u201d says Barros, according to Ag\u00eancia FAPESP.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/a>