Recent expansion of large-scale mechanized soybean production at the agricultural frontier in Mato Grosso State (MT), Brazil, motivated by food consumption increase, has provoked debates about the contribution of cropland expansion to current Amazon deforestation dynamics. The study aims to make a quantitative diagnosis of soybean occupation degree and expansion between 2001/02 and 2004/05 crop years in MT, focusing the analysis over deforested sites. The Crop Enhanced Index (CEI), based on MODIS vegetation indices products, was used to produce the soybean thematic maps for 2001/02 to 2004/05 crop years. The MT deforested sites were obtained from PRODES/INPE maps. To evaluate the soybean occupation over deforestations, the soybean thematic maps were overlaid to PRODES sites at two moments: soybean over old deforestation (accumulated from 1988 to 2000) and soybean over recent deforestation (yearly deforestation maps from 2001 to 2004). Results show that, until 2001/02 crop year, only 15% (0.59 Mha) of the MT soybean area was distributed over deforested sites. From 2001/02 to 2004/05 this area increased by 1.02 Mha. Moreover in the same period the deforestation in MT increased by more than 3.8 Mha. In 2005 only 9% (0.36 Mha) of the recent deforestation sites (from 2001 to 2004) were cultivated with soybean. Most of the soybean expansion over deforested areas (66%) was over old deforestation (from 1988 to 2000), suggesting that the soybean expansion observed during recent years was, predominantly, over other land uses.Pages: 323-33
