Impacts of mechanization on sugarcane agricultural productivity in the state of São Paulo from 2007 to 2013

Abstract

In contrast to the performance of other crops in the state, sugarcane productivity decreased 5% between 2007 and 2013 in the state of São Paulo. In the same period, the percentage of mechanized harvesting area in the state increased from 46.6% to 83.7%. There is some discussion among experts about the possibility that mechanization would have negatively impacted productivity, but there is no study in the literature that has quantitatively measured this aggregate effect. This study sought to contribute to fill this gap, by measuring the effect of mechanization on sugarcane productivity in the state of São Paulo in the period from 2007 to 2013. Therefore, a production function with climate control was estimated using a fixed effects model applied to a panel database by microregions. The results of the study showed the existence of a negative impact of the advance of mechanization in four mesoregions of the state: 6.6% in Ribeirão Preto, 9.7% in Araraquara, 6.2% in Piracicaba and 3.4% in Assis. However, there was no significant aggregate impact when assessing the state as a whole. The regions for which significant negative impacts have been estimated have a relevant part of the sugarcane area located in areas with greater slopes.

Keywords:
sugarcane; mechanization; productivity