Brazil: fertiliser consumption up by 18% in 2011

The increase in production in Brazil has been made partly possible by increased fertiliser consumption (+18% yoy). The figure below excludes sugar cane as the scale is quite different from the other cultures.
The units in the figure below is tons. Adubos means fertilisers, milho corn, mandioca tapioca, laranja oranges, to translate the most important.

What seems obvious is that productivity should not only be driven by fertiliser consumption, and this is an area where large producers need to have a long term view, since once depleted, the soil's nutrients are hard to replenish. It seems that Brazil's bet bet is Embrapa, which brings extraordinary knowhow to producers. For those who don't know Embrapa, it is the agency which actually transformed the Cerrado, once a vast barren land into a gigantic agricultural area with enormous growth potential, but with the added benefit of actually preserving much of the primary forest.