EVALUATION OF THE EXPANSION OF COFFEE AND SUGARCANE CULTURES AND THEIR POTENTIAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS IN THE SOUTH OF BAHIA
Agricultural expansion; Extreme South of Bahia; Sugar cane; Coffee; Potential environmental impacts.
Brazil has become the world's largest producer and exporter of several products, such as: sugar, coffee and orange juice; the second largest exporter of corn and soybean oil and bran; and the second largest producer of soy in grains and third in corn production. The Extreme Southern Economic Region of Bahia (RESB) has favorable factors for the expansion of sugarcane and coffee commodities, as it is limited to the main sugarcane and coffee producers in Brazil. The main sugarcane producing municipalities are: Caravelas, Mucuri, Medeiros Neto, Nova Viçosa, Lajedão, Ibirapuã and Santa Cruz Cabrália. And the main coffee producers are: Prado, Itamaraju, Porto Seguro, Eunápolis, Teixeira de Freitas and Itabela. The expansion of these commodities is of economic importance to the region. On the other hand, it has little contribution to improving the IDHM of municipalities, which are below the state and national average. It was also found that the expansion of sugarcane and coffee in the Far South region of Bahia occurred in areas linked to Conservation Units, promoting potential impacts on the region's biome. Furthermore, the expansion of these cultures did not guarantee the settlement of populations in the countryside, which can be verified by analyzing the dynamics of the urban and rural population.