THE INFLUENCE OF IRRIGATED AGRICULTURE ON AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION IN BRAZIL
Irrigated Agriculture, Production Theory, Spatial Econometrics.
Currently, Brazil is one of the largest agricultural exporters in the world and is relevant in the
production of different crops, thus agriculture is a major sector in the Brazilian economy.
Irrigation is an ancient practice, which continues to be present in agricultural production and
is growing in the country. The literature indicates that the adoption of irrigation enables
increased productivity, reduced production costs, optimization of inputs and equipment, and
is therefore important for the development of Brazilian agricultural production. The objective
of this work will be to verify the impact of irrigation on agricultural production in Brazilian
municipalities. To this end, the production function approach will be used, based on IBGE
data from 2017. First the data will be analyzed using exploratory spatial data analysis
(AEDE), then the production function model will be estimated using the Ordinary Least
Squares (OLS) method and the presence of spatial autocorrelation will be tested.
Subsequently, spatial econometric models will be estimated, including spatial lags, and the
model most appropriate to the data will be chosen, the one capable of accommodating spatial dependence.