*by Jorge Sukarie
the term BRIC (still without the “S”) appeared in 2001, in a study by Goldman Sachs chief economist, Jim O'Neill, entitled “Building Better Global Economic BRICs” to refer to Brazil, Russia, India and China – countries, until then, considered emerging, with similar characteristics (large territorial extension, population and GDP), with high potential to reach 50% of Gross Domestic Product world by the year 2050, and rival developed countries. In 2011 the group gained the addition of the “S” with the entry of South Africa.
After more than 20 years, the group remains relevant, including with a proposal to expand to welcome new countries from January 2024 (Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Ethiopia, United Arab Emirates and Iran), but the feeling we have is that the Group did not achieve what was expected when it was created. Jim O'Neill himself, creator of the term, has expressed, on more than one occasion, disappointment with the results that were less than expected.
Russia got into trouble with the War in Ukraine and economic isolation destroyed its economy, with no recovery expected in a short space of time. China, which for decades had a vigorous economy, seems to have lost strength and was greatly impacted by the pandemic, after all, the virus appeared there and took longer to come to a stop there. India is also suffering from the impacts of the pandemic and its internal problems, in addition to its geopolitical position that does not help much with its development.
We arrived in Brazil, which also has its countless problems and which in recent years has suffered from an economic recession and the remnants of the pandemic that greatly impacted its development. On the other hand, it's not all bad news. See in the table below, how Brazil has made a revolution in Agribusiness that has already placed it as a world leader in the export of chicken and beef, soybeans, corn, cellulose, green coffee, sugar and soon also cotton , as it is expected to surpass the US in the 2023/2024 harvest.
The adoption of new technologies and increased productivity, with the harvest of up to 3 crops per year in the same area, has allowed Brazil to stand out in this segment and with even greater potential for growth with the adoption of technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, 5G, Connectivity, Analytics, among others.
The success achieved so far in Agribusiness is not something temporary, and on the contrary, Brazil should gain more and more relevance in this area if we consider the countries with the largest agricultural areas in the world, shown in the table below. Brazil is the country that by far has not only the largest total arable area, but also the largest area still available for exploration.
Perhaps this gave rise to some terms and phrases that characterize Brazil in this area, such as “Breadbasket of the World”, “Brazil will sustain the planet”, among others.
See that Brazil has an agricultural area to be explored that is greater than triple the area of Congo, which is in 2nd place in the ranking in this regard, as shown in the table below:
The same Goldman Sachs that coined the term BRICS, estimates, according to its projections for the ranking of the largest economies in the world in 2075, that Brazil is among the ten largest world powers. We should be ahead of powers like the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan.
Despite all the difficulties or any political dispute, Brazil continues to be a great candidate to remain relevant on the international scene. If we can use technology to address some of the structural problems we face today, such as Health, Education and Infrastructure, we will be able to create a More digital and less unequal country. I firmly believe that technology can guarantee a better experience for the user and a better service for citizens, and when we have digitalization permeated in a society, we are able to make products and services available to anyone, regardless of social class, race, gender or any other distinction.
Brazil, a more Digital and less Unequal Country!!!
*Jorge Sukarie is a member of the board of the Brazilian Association of Software Companies (ABES), founding partner and president of Brasoftware.
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