Ecoeficiência da produção de grãos brasileira: uma análise de fronteira estocástica utilizando pegadas hídricas

Abstract

Eco-efficiency refers to the ability to produce the maximum amount of goods and services, making efficient use of resources and causing minimal environmental degradation, thus being related to the concept of sustainability. The growth in grain production in Brazil observed in recent decades to meet the population's increased demand for food has led to the strengthening of intensive monoculture agriculture, which is characterized by using large areas of cultivation, leading to soil and water depletion and disrupting ecosystem balance, therefore being one of the main causes of natural resource degradation. Water, essential for supply activities, energy generation, and agriculture, notably stands as one of the most threatened resources, generating conflicts in production areas. In this context, this dissertation aimed to analyze the ecoefficiency of grain production in Brazil and its possible influencing factors using stochastic frontier analysis (SFA). Five inputs related to grain production (capital, labor, green water footprint, blue water footprint, and grey water footprint) and a single output (value of grain production) were considered, along with six exogenous variables to compose the ecoinefficiency model. For this purpose, data from the 2006 and 2017 Agricultural Census of 3,406 grain-producing municipalities were used as the basis. The main results indicated that the average eco-efficiency of grain-producing municipalities was classified as high but showed a decrease during the study period. As for the influencing factors, per capita water supply and the proportion of environmental expenditures to government expenditures positively influenced the eco-efficiency of grain production in the country. The output elasticity of grey water footprint was negative and had a significant impact during the study period, indicating that this input does not enable eco-efficient grain production in the country. The results indicated that there is still a lot of room for municipalities to reduce their levels of eco-inefficiency without the need for additional costs, as most of it originates from the technical inefficiency of producers. It is necessary to prioritize the development and implementation of public policies involving sustainable water management.