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I read that up to 70% of Brazil's sugar cane in the Sao Paulo area is still harvested manually. Some workers are paid $1.50 per tonne. Why is it still being cut manually? Some possibilities:

(1) farm owners lack the capital to buy mechanical harvesters

(2) human labor is cheaper

(3) regulatory or legal obstacles are blocking the use of harvesters

Lassie Fair
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  • This is an important question. One comment: (1) If investment is truly very profitable, lack of capital shouldn't explain absence of "better tools". Lack of access to finance is also needed. – snoram Jun 27 '16 at 23:30
  • Also suggest considering (4) risk of keeping very liquid capital in presence of corrupt police and mafia. – snoram Jun 27 '16 at 23:37
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    It would be helpful to have a link or reference to where you read this. – Adam Bailey Jun 28 '16 at 08:15
  • @AdamBailey Why? – Lassie Fair Jun 28 '16 at 08:16
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    @LassieFair It seems rather surprising that there should be so much manual harvesting, so those seeing the question may like to see evidence that this is the case before considering possible explanations. – Adam Bailey Jun 28 '16 at 08:28
  • @AdamBailey So, you don't want the link, you want proof that the fact I give is true. – Lassie Fair Jun 28 '16 at 08:37
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    @LassieFair Yes, I'm asking for proof or at least evidence. A link would just be one way to provide this. – Adam Bailey Jun 28 '16 at 08:41
  • @AdamBailey Well, my feeling about that is that anyone that does not know the fact already is starting with little or no knowledge of the sugarcane industry, so they would be unable to answer the question anyway. In other words, anyone who knew enough to be able to answer the question, would not be asking me for proof of basic facts because they already would know them. – Lassie Fair Jun 28 '16 at 08:44
  • Are you really unable to disclose where you got that number from? – snoram Jun 28 '16 at 15:23
  • @snoram I am not here to write a tutorial on the sugar cane industry. Anybody capable of answering the question will know all the facts, so it is hardly necessary for me to write a footnoted dissertation on the topic. If you are curious about the industry, read up on it yourself. The site is for asking questions, not to be online education. – Lassie Fair Jun 28 '16 at 15:31
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    @LassieFair What an interesting attitude to take when asking for help. Would you please edit the question so I can remove my upvote? – Giskard Jul 26 '16 at 06:29

2 Answers2

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Brazil is a more complicated country than most. It has extreme variability in wealth and education. It is very ethnically diverse, has vast natural resources and inconvenient geography.

Unfortunately, there's not an easy straightforward answer to your question. A lot of what affects Brazil is political fragmentation and instability. When ranking countries by stability, The Fragile State Index ranks Brazil as the 108th most stable country, putting is firmly below average. This results in poorly centralized power which means most case studies are unique to local resources, local labor and local leadership.

The specific situation you ask about in regards to manual harvesting is a combination of insufficient capital, disregard for worker's rights, or a complete lack of organization.

Having lived in Brazil, there are an infinite number of economic and social issues that require attention, but not enough time or resources to devote to all of them. The country relies on resource extraction while trying to grow manufacturing and tech while trying to deal with massive inequality. Poor geography.

Here is a study that might give you more precise information for your particular question: https://medcraveonline.com/SIJ/social-impacts-with-the-end-of-the-manual-sugarcane-harvest-a-case-study-in-brazil.html

Kris Howerd
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Although it seems that it necessarily boils down to the idea that labor is very, very cheap for some reason or another, it is often the case in these situations that workers unions, somewhat perversely, will block the firm´s replacement of labor with capital, in order to keep the workers employed.

Fix.B.
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