To what extent can rain affect the productivity of a country like Brazil? Answering a question from a young Ukrainian woman

1) A young Ukrainian woman asked me how rain can harm a country's industrial productivity.

2.1) From the point of view of energy production, when there is a period of drought, the rivers become drier to the point that it makes the production of electrical energy unfeasible.

2.2) If we take as a reference that the basis of our country's energy production is through our rivers, then we can say that winter, which is a period where it normally does not rain, is generally the period where we run the risk of having greater chances of blackouts - the biggest proof of this was the energy crisis that occurred at the end of the 90s, during the government of Fernando Henrique Cardoso, when they did not continue with the military governments' project to invest in hydroelectric plants. as part of improving the productivity of our basic industries. These investments took into account the large number of rivers in our territory, one of our greatest geographical characteristics, to the point that we took advantage of this geopolitical advantage, which could bring investments from cutting-edge industries for the future. This shortsightedness on the part of those in power during the redemocratization era generated many lost opportunities - and as a people, we were forced to bear this tremendous opportunity cost by paying for thermoelectric plants and increasingly expensive energy until the moment when Bolsonaro was elected president when these military government projects were finally resumed.

3) From the point of view of raw material production, if there is no well-distributed rainfall during the agricultural production cycle, this will result in a raw material harvest in both low quantity and low quality, which will affect the industry's productivity , as the finished product will be of low quality, to the point of bringing low added value - which will not meet the demands of the foreign market, to the point of not bringing in foreign exchange for the country - which will certainly affect our gross internal product. Naturally, this will generate negative economic impacts, as economic crises are historical causes of impeachment in Brazil.

4) These are, therefore, some of the geographic determinisms that affect the governability of our land and that must always be taken into account by a minimally competent government. A government that doesn't care about this loses not only its legitimacy but also its ability to govern, since it has lost its ability to manage geographic space.

José Octavio Dettmann

Rio de Janeiro, June 3rd, 2024 (data from original post).