Matopiba is a region formed by the Brazilian state of Tocantins and parts of the states of Maranhão, Piauí and Bahia, where there has been a strong agricultural expansion since the second half of the 1980s, especially in grain crops. The name is an acronym formed by the abbreviation of the four states (MA +TO + PI + BA). 

The flat topography and the low cost of lands compared to the consolidated areas of Brazil's Center-South, led some agricultural entrepreneurs to invest in the then new agricultural frontier. The expansion happened over cerrado areas, especially underused grasslands, and it was only possible due to the availability of technologies to make sowing possible in the local conditions. The production systems have been intensive from their start and aim at high productivity. 

The movement led the Brazilian Government to ask the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) for a study on the region, through technical cooperation agreements with the National Institute of Settlements and Agrarian Reform (Incra). The work assessed natural characteristics, land title issues, agricultural profile, infrastructure, and socioeconomic conditions (Access the geoweb with the data). Hence Matopiba was outlined and officialized by presidential decree in 2015. It comprises 337 municipalities in 31 geographic microregions, which total about 73 million hectares.

Matopiba's agricultural production is marked by the harvests of major grains, especially soybeans, corn and cotton. There are about 4,800,000 hectares planted with soybeans that yielded 18.5 million tons in the 2022/23 crop year, which represents about 12.3% of the total produced in Brazil.

The Bahian portion of the region is the second highest fiber producer in Brazil, only behind Mato Grosso state. The West of Bahia represents the oldest and most strongly consolidated space in Matopiba. Despite the more restricted rainfall regimes (which limits non-irrigated off-season cropping) and the prevalence of soils with sandier texture, its high altitude combined with less busy terrains contributed to the success of the agricultural experience in the region.

Although most of the area is dedicated to grain farming, in addition to immense areas of cattle raising, the rural properties of the region also have room for fruits, roots and tubercles, forest species and cattle. (Check production per municipality).

A notable landscape is the immense floodplain of the Araguaia-Javaés watershed, in the southwest of the state of Tocantins, where irrigated rice grown during the rainy season and sub-irrigated soybean seeds obtained during the dry season have shown excellent performance. 

More recently, the advance of agriculture in the eastern portion of Pará has attracted the attention of many, to the point of suggesting the incorporation of this part of the territory into Matopiba, thus expanding the contour lines of the agricultural expansion frontier.

Photo: Júlio Bogiani
Characteristics

Matopiba is predominantly within the Cerrado biome. About 66.5 million hectares (91% of the area) are in said biome, while smaller shares are part of the Amazon Rainforest (5.3 million ha or 7.3% of the area) and Caatinga (1.2 million hectares or 1.7% of the area) biomes. Due to its position in low latitudes, usually combined with low altitudes, temperatures are high (with the exception of western Bahia, where temperatures are usually milder due to the higher altitude). 

A semi-humid tropical climate prevails (~78% of the territory), with average temperatures above 18°C every month and periods of drought for 4 to 7 months, generally coinciding with the winter semester. It is the typical weather of the Cerrados, where dry and wet seasons alternate. The eastern border tends to be drier, and closer to the semi-arid climate of the Caatingas, with low humidity and precipitation (6-7 dry months) and high temperatures (above 18°C every month). In turn, the western border tends to exhibit more abundant rainfall volumes, reduced dry season, and falling annual water deficits.

As expected for soils developed under tropical conditions, they almost always have low natural fertility, in addition to profiles that suffer intense weathering, almost always associated with vast flattened surfaces that offer suitability to agricultural mechanization. They include Latosols, Plinthosols (particularly Petric Plinthosols due to their large expression, but also the Haplic and Argilluvic Plinthosols that take up large extensions in the plains of the Araguaia-Javaés system, in the Southwest of Tocantins), as well as the Quartzarenic Neosols, associated with the Parnaíba Sedimentary Basin. 

Photo: Paulo Martinho / Evaristo de Miranda

Embrapa and Matopiba

The tropical conditions that are inherent to the geographical position of the Matopiba region, as well as the presence of vast expanses of sandy soils with gravels, are particular challenges to the development of agriculture. Under such conditions, agricultural management requires particular care to avoid the quick degradation to which they would be subjected. Management practices such as liming, the use of agricultural gypsum, the adoption of conservation practices, and crop rotation to maintain soil health are necessary to ensure environmental and economic sustainability in production. 

The set of technologies that have been researched by Embrapa have been motivated by the understanding that technologies need to be adapted to those conditions. Such technologies include several adaptations related to no-till farming and the adoption of integrated systems with pastures and forest species, which aim to ensure sustainability. 

Tests of genetic materials, as well as techniques related to making the most of the region's short rainfall window, have been intensively researched by Embrapa's teams. The advance of agriculture in frontier areas is generally accompanied by pressure on extensive cattle farming, which tends to restrict the activity to professional farmers who are able to intensify the activity and use technology. Therefore research aimed at developing and adapting technologies for the sustainable intensification of cattle farming in the region is also part of Embrapa's set of actions in the region.

Embrapa has four research centers in the states that integrate Matopiba: Embrapa Cocais (MA), Embrapa Fishery and Aquaculture (TO), Embrapa Mid-North (PI) and Embrapa Cassava and Fruits (BA). However, the company's work in the region is not restricted to those units. Technologies that have been developed for decades by Embrapa and other agricultural research institutions made the cultivation of grains and other products possible and profitable in Cerrado areas, the predominant biome in Matopiba.

Photo: Júlio Bogiani