Degraded Pastures in Brasil: dataset used in econometric models

Degraded pasture restoration is the major liability in Brazilian
agriculture but could be the main asset. Here we show the technical
inefficiency of livestock activity in Brazil is around 19% in which
degraded pastures being the main factor of diseconomy of scale. On the
other hand, the recovery of 12 million hectares of degraded pastures could
generate an additional production of 16.9 million bovines. There is a
large regional concentration of degraded pastures, which would facilitate
the targeting of Technical Assistance and Rural Extension (ATER) and Rural
Credit efforts to foster pasture recovery, as these two factors have a
significant impact in reducing inefficiency. 1% of Brazilian
municipalities concentrate 25% of degraded pastures that could generate
almost 30% of the total increment of the additional herd via pasture
recovery.  At the municipality level, even if most of the
degraded pastures were allocated to forest recovery in order to comply
with the Forest Code, an increase of 9 M of cattle would be possible due
to the recovery of degraded pastures that would exceed the minimum
necessary to comply with the environmental law. Redirecting investment
credits, especially for resources with controlled interest rate. Degraded
pasturelands are the new frontier that could boost livestock activities
and avoid deforestation in Brazil.