110 PRODUCTION 



In order that these possibilities may be realised it is necessary 

 that some change should be made in the present methods of stock- 

 raising. Capital is required for the construction of means of com- 

 munication and of freezing- works at suitable ports. At the present 

 time cattle intended for export trade have to be driven such dis- 

 tances in Venezuela that they lose condition. The construction 

 of irrigation works is also of pressing importance in view of the 

 annual dry season. 1 From the simple geographical point of view 

 there seems no reason why these countries should not produce in 

 the future large surplus supplies of cattle. The main obstacle to 

 development at the present time seems to be the low density of 

 population and the consequent labour shortage. 



Should a meat scarcity continue to be felt in the world's markets, 

 it is possible that in both these countries, as well as in other unde- 

 veloped parts of the New World, syndicates working with foreign 

 capital may establish large-scale undertakings not only in meat- 

 packing and refrigerating plants, but also in stock-rearing. What 

 these countries require is the example of systematic and scientific 

 methods in the development of their pastoral resources. 



The extensive highlands of Eastern and Central Brazil contain, 

 especially towards the interior, large areas of native pastures. 

 The rainfall is, generally speaking, sufficient, but is unequally 

 distributed throughout the year. On the eastern coastal slope it 

 is excessive, and is more favourable to forests than to pastures. 

 As a stock-raising region the tropical highlands of Brazil are faced 

 with the difficulties of communication between the coastal ports 

 and the interior, over the intervening forest and mountainous belt. 

 Cattle are numerous in the middle highlands of the latitude of 

 Matto Grosso and goats towards the North-East. The breeds and 

 the quality of these animals, however, are distinctly inferior, so 

 that, until recently, tropical Brazil has been unable to furnish its 

 own requirements in meat and dairy produce, even with the assist- 

 ance of the southern temperate highlands, already described. 



Nevertheless, in recent years a change has been in progress. 

 Brazil was formerly a large, and the most important market for 

 the Argentine and Uruguayan exports of jerked beef, but the latter 

 countries have more or less dropped out of this trade since freezing 



thorough utilisation of natural meadow lands." International Agric. Inst., 

 Bulletin, above quoted. 



In Columbia, on the Meta Savannah, " there are about 5 million head of 

 live stock ; but competent authorities believe that by developing the culti- 

 vation of grass-lands and by irrigation, over 30 million head of cattle could 

 be raised in this region." International Agric. Inst., Bulletin, above quoted, 

 p. 124. 



1 " Undoubtedly when a better system of irrigation has improved the pasture 

 lands of Columbia, and when means of communication for the transportation 

 of live stock and frozen meat are provided, the export trade in these products 

 will become of great importance to the country." International Agric. Inst., 

 Bulletin, above quoted. 



