Soy water footprint and socioeconomic development: An analysis in the new agricultural expansion areas of the Brazilian cerrado (Brazilian savanna)

The objective of this study was to verify the relationship between the Water Footprint (WF) of soy production and the socioeconomic development of the municipalities located in the recent agricultural expansion areas of the Cerrado (brazilian savanna), between 2007 and 2016. For this purpose, the development of soy producing and non-producing municipalities was compared, according to different categories of consolidation time and economic weight of this culture, through multivariate analysis. The correlation between the development index and the absolute WF was calculated. The results found refute the hypothesis that the development of producing municipalities is a reflection of the economic advances provided by the soybean producer in these areas. Those who have consolidated their soy production for over 30 years are the ones that showed the best overall development. However, they did not show good results in the distribution of income and employment creation. They show or register worse health rates when compared to municipalities that do not produce soy in the same region. The size of the areas destined to the cultivation of this conmodity is associated to local climate changes that put productive and environmental sustainability at risk, since, for each unit of growth of the municipal development indicator, water consumption increased 17 times and it was found the water footprint of soybeans is inversely linked to the municipal development index.