Le « boom » du soja au Brésil : les formes de développement agricole et alimentaire adoptées peuvent-elles servir du paradigme pour le Tiers-Monde ?

The tremendous expansion of the Brazilian soybean complex is not only caused by the transfer of the American soybean model (consumption and production model) by multinational firms. Neither is it a simple case of a «green revolution» success. The Brazilian complex results from a research effort, a response of the wheat and coffee producers and an «agri-business» mobilization helped and protected by the State. This complex produces an original model which although partially «dependant» is however definitively national. Cultivated on 8 millions of hectares, soybean is a capital-intensive crop, locally processed by a competitive crushing industry. Brazil is becoming a strong competiter of the United States on the international market of soybean meal and oil. The limit of the soybean model is its selective character — only 20 % of the producers receive credits and assistance— which creates a new desequilibrium between regions and products. The substitution between soybean and others crops leads to a certain food shortages. The constitution of the soybean complex is linked to the rise of Brazil on the international scene. Its arrival has created a new situation on the international soybean market where the oligopolistic structure has been destabilized.