Agricultural products. – Agriculture remains the fundamental economic base of the state.
Between the figures of the 1920 census and the annual averages for the period 1931-1935 there is a truly significant increase for crops. The internal states, kingdom of ilea and campos, still today have very modest areas used for agriculture (Amazonas had 20,104 hectares in 1920; today only 8434; Pará 91,478 and 52,176 respectively; Matto Grosso 20,375 in 1920; 21,984 in the period 1931- 35); the coastal states, on the other hand, experience an extraordinary increase. The following states have an area used for various crops of more than half a million hectares (the first figure refers to 1920; the second to the period 1931-35): Pernambuco 250,119 and 544,191 hectares; Rio de Janeiro 286,295 and 659,197 hectares; Rio Grande do Sul 756,457 and 1,423,493; Minas Geraes 1,557,459 and 2,117,378; San Paolo 1,984,825 and 4,130,932.
According to collegesanduniversitiesinusa, all productions show an increase in the cultivated area. With regard to industrial plants (cotton, sugar cane, tobacco, etc.) there is a notable shift in absolute values: in 1920 there was the following gradation (hectares): Minas Geraes 166,021: San Paolo 157,862; Pernambuco 128,473; Bahia 79,520; Parahyba 60,824; Alagôas 52,757; Ceará 46,277.
In the period 1931-1935 the ranking is instead the following: San Paolo 274,133; Pernambuco 260,930; Ceará 181,850; Parahyba 176,572; Minas Geraes 124.006; Bahia 109,882; Rio Grande do Norte 108,060; Alagoas 93,739; Rio Grande do Sul 80,628; Maranhão 75,455; Sergipe 45.871. There is therefore a general increase in cultivated areas and a greater accentuation in the NE states. This is mainly due to the cultivation of cotton, carried out mainly in those states, whose surface from 546,000 hectares in the period 1926-1930 has now exceeded 2 million hectares; at the same time, production has tripled (from 1 to 3 million quintals), so that Brazil is one of the major producing countries in the world. The production of sugar cane is also constantly increasing, which rises from 112 million quintals in the period 1926-1930 to over 170 million quintals. Sugar production fluctuates between 8-9 million quintals per year: Pernambuco, Bahia, Rio de Janeiro, San Paolo, Minas Geraes and Santa Catharina lead the production.
The largest areas cultivated with coffee, cocoa and coconut are in the states of San Paolo (2,088,138 hectares in 1931-1935 compared to 1,030,044 in 1920), Minas Geraes (787,099 and 652,638 respectively), Espirito Santo (277.904 and 154.291), Rio de Janeiro (275.000 and 195.606), Bahia (242.797 and 250.467).
Coffee dominates undisputed in terms of quantity and value: about 4 million hectares and 15-16 million quintals produced out of a world total of 22-23 million quintals: San Paolo and Minas Geraes continue to hold the record.
For cocoa, Brazil holds the 20th place in the world, with 1/6 of world production (1 million quintals out of 6 million overall): 98% comes from the state of Bahia alone, accentuating this regime even more than in previous periods. almost monopoly. Brazil also ranks first in the world for mate, with a production of 140 million kg.; Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catharina and Matto Grosso are the producing states. There is a huge export, especially to Argentina.
The breeding. – Livestock farming is one of the most notable sources of wealth: there is a general increase between 1920 and 1935. Cattle rise from 34,271,324 to 40,863,900; equines from 5,253,699 to 6,131,700; donkeys and mules from 1,865,259 to 3,303,000; sheep from 7,943,310 to 13,049,100; goats from 5,086,655 to 6,177,300; pigs from 16,168,549 to 24,773,600. For cattle, the states of Rio Grande do Sul and Minas Geraes prevail with a total of 19.3 million heads, just under half of the total, followed by Goyaz (4 million), Matto Grosso (3.5), Bahia (3.1), San Paolo (2.5): it is therefore the coastal states with a more temperate climate or the internal plateau states that have the highest figures, while this breeding has very little importance, especially when compared with the surface, in the great Amazonian lowland (Amazonas 330,000 heads; Pará 900,000; Territory of Acre 20,900). Also for pigs and sheep the state of Rio Grande do Sul holds the record with 5.2 and 8.3 million head respectively, thus completing the large breeding area typical of South America (Argentina and Uruguay); for goats, on the other hand, there is a clear preference for the NE states: Bahia, Pernambuco, Ceará, Piauhy hold the first places; however, such breeding is very scarce in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. for goats, on the other hand, there is a clear preference for the NE states: Bahia, Pernambuco, Ceará, Piauhy hold the first places; however, such breeding is very scarce in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. for goats, on the other hand, there is a clear preference for the NE states: Bahia, Pernambuco, Ceará, Piauhy hold the first places; however, such breeding is very scarce in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.
Industries. – One of the fundamental Brazilian industries is currently the textile: the cotton mill has 2.7 million spindles (1936) against 2.35 in 1926; 83,300 looms against 65,000, with a total workforce of 200,000 workers (109,000 in 1926). At the top of all the states, those of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro remain: local products have now almost entirely replaced foreign ones.
