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Decades of increasing corn and soyabean production have turned Brazil into an agricultural powerhouse. They have also led to the destruction of vast areas of land of the Amazon rainforest. That has long put farmers and environmentalists at loggerheads. However, a study released in October 2024 by the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) and Rainforest Foundation Norway (RFN) shows the extent to which deforestation is hurting farmers too.

The report shows that the practice of clear-cutting (removing all trees from a given area) in the Brazilian Amazon led to reduced crop yields1, resulting in total economic losses of around $1 billion between 2006 and 2019. After accounting for production costs, the net revenues2 for soyabeans dropped by 10% over that time, while corn revenues dropped by 20%. Beyond the balance-sheet, Anders Krogh, a specialist forest adviser at RFN, says these findings demonstrate the danger deforestation poses to global food security.

When ancient forests become rolling plains3, a delicate balance of water cycles is disrupted. As trees respire, they convert water into vapour, which goes on to form large, dense rain clouds, and has a cooling effect on the region. This moisture-recycling process also influences atmospheric circulation, which plays a key role in temperature regulation in the Amazon basin.

The effects are most severe in the majority of deforested regions. In areas where more than 80% of the forest has been cleared, the onset of the rainy season has been delayed by 76 days since 1980. Between 1999 and 2019, rainfall in these same areas fell by 40% in the soyabean-cropping season and 23% at corn-cropping time. Maximum air temperatures increased by approximately 2.5 ºC over the same period (from 30 ºC to 32.5 ºC). Less rain and hotter days mean smaller harvests and smaller revenues.

_{(www.economist.com, 27.11.2024. Adaptado.)}

_{¹crop yields: produções agrícolas.
²net revenues: rendimentos líquidos.
³rolling plains: planícies onduladas.}

No trecho do segundo parágrafo “The report shows that the practice of clear-cutting (removing all trees from a given area) in the Brazilian Amazon led to reduced crop yields”, a parte sublinhada indica uma

• a

  condição.

• b

  definição.

• c

  possibilidade.

• d

  crítica.

• e

  justificativa.