Throughout history, the Northeast has gone through several economic transformations, with emphasis on the 20th century, when the region suffered its greatest decline, being considered a “problem region” and becoming a major supplier of cheap labor, especially for the Brazilian Southeast.
Despite this, the region has a diversified economic activity, which has been accelerating in recent years, a fact that contributes decisively to better local development. This fact is related to the recent trend of migration of industries, previously located in the Southeast, to the Northeast, an increasingly recurrent practice.
In the Mid North sub-region, which covers the entire state of Maranhão and the western portion of Piauí, the predominant economic activity is the cultivation of cotton, sugarcane and rice. In addition, the mining-metallurgical complex associated with the Grande Carajás Program, which carries out the practice of mining in the Serra dos Carajás aimed at exports, deserves special mention.
In the northeastern Sertão area, which covers the eastern portion of Piauí and most of the states of Ceará, Bahia, Sergipe, Pernambuco, Paraíba, Alagoas and Rio Grande do Norte, the main economic practice is extensive cattle raising, in addition to some agricultural activities carried out in the areas From bogs, relatively humid places in the middle of the semiarid sertanejo.
In Agreste, located in parts of the states of Bahia, Sergipe, Alagoas, Paraíba and Rio Grande do Norte, there are some activities related to agriculture. However, the main economic activity is tourism.
In the Zona da Mata, coastal region and the most developed in the region, in addition to tourism, this sub-region presents practices related to sugar production, oil production in the Recôncavo Baiano and monoculture of the cocoa. It is currently the most industrialized area.
As we can see, the Northeast has very diverse economic practices and socio-structural levels, a legacy of its colonial past. Currently, despite the problems related to drought and poverty, there is a clear industrial expansion taking place in this region.
By Rodolfo Alves Pena
Graduated in Geography
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/brasil/economia-nordeste.htm