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Portugal Agricultural Zones
Portugal is made up of the mainland and the Azores and
Madeira islands, which altogether include an area of
91,640
square kilometers, about the size of Indiana. The
mainland's land
area of slightly more than 9.2 million hectares was
classified as
follows (in thousands of hectares): 2,755 arable land and
permanent crops (including 710 in permanent crops), 530
permanent
pasture, 3,640 forest and woodland, and 2,270 other land.
A useful categorization divides the mainland into three
distinct topographical and climatic zones: the south (the
Alentejo and the Algarve), the center (the Ribatejo and
Oeste),
and the north (the Entre Douro e Minho, the
Trás-os-Montes, the
Beira Litoral, and the Beja Interior).
The north is mountainous, with a rainy, moderately cool
climate. This zone contains about 2 million hectares of
cultivated land and is dominated by small-scale, intensive
agriculture. High population density, particularly in the
northwest, has contributed to a pattern of tiny,
fragmented farms
that produce mainly for family consumption interspersed
with
larger and often mechanized farms that specialize in
commercial
production of a variety of crops. On the average, northern
levels
of technology and labor productivity are among the lowest
in
Western Europe. Extreme underemployment of agricultural
workers
accounts for the north being the principal and enduring
source of
Portuguese emigrant labor.
The center is a diverse zone of about 75,000 hectares
that
includes rolling hills suitable primarily for tree crops,
poor
dryland soils, and the fertile alluvial soils of the banks
of the
Rio Tejo (Tagus River in English). A variety of crops are
grown
on the productive areas under irrigation: grains, mainly
wheat
and corn, oil seeds (including sunflowers), and irrigated
rice.
Farms located in the Rio Tejo Valley typically are 100
hectares
in size.
The south is dominated by the Alentejo, a vast, rolling
plain
with a hot, arid climate. The Alentejo occupies an area of
approximately 2.6 million hectares, about 30 percent of
the total
area of mainland Portugal, and produces about 75 percent
of the
country's wheat. Although much of the area is classified
as
arable land, poor soils dominate most of the area, and
consequently yields of dryland crops and pasture are low
by West
European standards. The Alentejo is also known for its
large
stands of cork oak and its olive groves. The Algarve, less
than a
third the area of the Alentejo, occupies the extreme
southern
part of Portugal. This dryland area is characterized by
smallholdings where animal grazing and fishing are the
principal
occupations of the inhabitants.
Data as of January 1993
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