Innovation with Spatial Impact: Sustainable Development of the Brazilian Cerrado

This book utilizes spatial economics and related approaches to analyze both the process of transformation and its socioeconomic and environmental impact. These methodologies were indispensable because the transformation process involved spatial interactions between aspects such as transportation, supply chains, knowledge spillovers, environmental constraints, migration, and urbanization.

The authors focus on the expansion and diversification of crop production and on the formation of agro-industry value chains and clusters in their analysis of agricultural development in the Brazilian Cerrado. They also assess the influence of knowledge spillovers, paying attention to both direct and indirect influences. Their analysis extends to the spatial structures generated by the development of Cerrado agriculture: the construction of full-fledged value chains and clusters of agro-industry, the configuration of land-use and its modifications, and the evolution of the spatial organization of urbanization and urban networks.

JICA Research Institute Senior Research Advisor Akio Hosono is one of the editors and authors of the book.

This book is the culmination of a research program conducted jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).