GENESIS AND EVOLUTION OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH IN BRAZIL: FROM THE INSTALLATION OF THE PORTUGUESE COURT UNTIL THE BEGINNING OF THE REPUBLIC

Abstract

The present essay is the first of a trilogy that analyzes the evolutionary process of agricultural research institutions in Brazil, relating the dynamic of this trajectory with the socio-political and economic transformations which, in the last analysis, determined them. The creation of the Botanical Garden in 1808 is the first institutional mark of agricultural research in Brazil. In 1859, with the country under a new political aegis, the first agricultural research institutes, created by decrees of the Emperor Pedro I, appeared: these were the Imperial Institutes of Bahia, Rio de Janeiro, Pernambuco, Sergipe, and Rio Grande do Sul. Only the institutes of Bahia and Rio de Janeiro ever functioned effectively. In this period many studies were carried out, especially on the introduction and selection of animal and vegetable species, soil fertility, pest and disease control, assexual multiplication of plants, and production and distribution of seeds and seedlings. The advent of the Republic succeeded in destroying these Institutes, rendering them inviable, along with the Ministry of Agriculture itself, which was abolished after 32 years of existence.