The Competitiveness of Natural Fibers Based Composites in the Automotive Sector The Sisal Agribusiness in Brazil
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The Competitiveness of Natural Fibers Based Composites in the Automotive Sector
The Sisal Agribusiness in Brazil Location of the Area Target The Northeast Region of Brazil has a land area of over I.5 million km2 and extends over tropical and equatorial latitudes from 18' S in the State of Bahia to 1' S in the State of Maranhão. Although representing only about 18% of the national territory, it is the home of approximately 35% of Brazil's 160 millions inhabitants (IBGE, 2000). The Northeastern region of Brazil, in the States of Bahia, Paraiba and Rio Grande do Norte are responsible for 100% of sisal production. Precipitation is the key environmental factor of ecological significance for the region and can be characterized by three major zones trending east to west. First is a narrow humid coastal strip in the cast (known as Zone of Mata) which receives an average of 1,250 mm to over 2,000 mm of rainfall per annum. Behind this humid zone there is a middle one with moisture deficiency (subject to periodic droughts) which accounts for the largest portion of the Northeast. Most of this zone receives less than 1,000 mm of annual rainfall, with an extreme low of less than 300 mm in some areas. The third zone is one of high rainfall, over 2,000 mm per year, in western Maranhão. Reflecting this wide diversity of moisture conditions are natural vegetation patterns ranging from tropical rainforest ("Atlantic Rain Forest") to semi-arid thorn scrub ("Caatinga"). This system has been under severe pressure due to the lack of economical alternatives to support the population living in those areas.
The Northeast Region was the heart of the colonial
settlement, and was the richest of the country in the XVII century, due to its sugar exports to Europe. In the XVIII century, the region experienced increasing human settlement in the area, U4.2.1
especially after the US Civil War, when cotton plantations were introduced attracting large amounts of workers. Droughts that led to famine deaths, unemployment and migration to urban centers started taking place in the region from then on. During the droughts of 1792, 1825 and 1877 thousands of people starved and tens of thousands more were uprooted. Thus, insufficient and irregular rainfall together with the economic decline experienced by the loss of competitiveness of the region agricultural monoculture in the world market, in XIX and XX centuries, only contributed to worsening the local conditions. The Northeast is the poorest region in Brazil. It has the highest infant mortality rates in the country (estimated per 1,000 live births): in Rio Grande do Norte State, in 1998 was 59.8; Paraiba, 64.6 (l998); and Bahia, 50.4 (l998), against the country's average of 40.0. The HDI was 0.668 for Rio Grande do Norte; 0.655 for Bahia and 0.557 for Paraiba. The per capita income was US$1,232 in Rio Grande do Norte; US$1,005 for Paraiba; for Bahia, US$1,605. The income per capita of the sisal region is under US$ 1,000 a year, which is a small portion of Brazil's average of US$4,802 (1998), estimate
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