Luziânia

Luziânia is a city and municipality in the state of Goiás, Brazil. This fast-growing city is a great producer of agricultural products including soybeans and beans.

Location

Luziânia is located 68 km. south of Brasília and is part of the greater Brasília metropolitan area, called Entorno de Brasília.

Although the city has existed as a settlement since colonial days, its rapid growth occurred in the eighties and nineties with the population explosion of the federal capital and the need for less expensive living areas outside the planned city.

The municipality is limited in the north by Valparaíso de Goiás and Novo Gama; in the south by Orizona and Ipameri; in the west by Santo Antônio do Descoberto, Alexânia, and Silvânia; and in the east by Cristalina.

A case of rapid growth

Luziânia is the classic example of a small town that grew extremely fast without time for the infrastructure to catch up with the population. Once the site of a major gold discovery in 1746 that attracted prospectors from far way, the city today has little of its colonial origins. The urban zone, made up of nuclei of population, extends for more than 20 km. along the BR 040 highway, which connects Belo Horizonte with Brasília. These nuclei of population are at the same time interconnected with those of neighboring municipalities forming a continuous urban zone of 40 km. as far as Brasília.Many of the inhabitants of these satellite towns were either arrivals from other states, mainly the Northeast, or dwellers of Brasília forced out by increasing high living costs. Most of them are poor and create serious problems for the government of Luziânia, forced to provide health care and education for a population that has tripled in the last twenty years. In addition, the distance from the state capital (255 km.) means that resources are not destined to a region that is considered to be more connected to Brasília than to Goiânia. Consequently, economic and social indicators for Luziânia are much lower than those for Brasília.

Demographic data

In 2007 population density was 49.49 inhab/km². The population has almost doubled since 1980, when it was 92,817. Today it is over 190,000 with fewer than 20,000 living in the rural area. (IBGE/Sepin)

In 1996 the population had grown to 246,000, but then the city lost much of its territory and population due to the formation of new municipalities like Valparaíso de Goiás and Cidade Ocidental.Since 1996 the population has continued to grow, showing an increase of 4.81% from 2000 to 2007. (IBGE/Sepin)

The economy

Until the eighties Luziânia was a sleepy little agricultural town a half hour's drive away from Brasília. Then agribusiness discovered the relatively flat lands that could produce high yields of soybeans with central pivot irrigation. Today the city is one of the most prosperous in the state and the second largest producer of beans and potatoes in the state, and the third largest producer of cotton and corn. In fruit cultivation it is the first producer in the state of guava and the fourth of tomatoes and passion fruit (maracujá). Planted area of the main crops in 2006 was: cotton, 1,334 hectares; rice, 1,000 hectares; beans, 24,000 hectares; corn, 15,000 hectares; and soybeans, 40,000 hectares.

The economy is also strong in cattle raising (187,000 head in 2006), both for meat and dairy, as well as semi-precious stones, gravel, bricks, and a well-known sweet made from quince. Due to the proximity to Brasília there is extensive production of fruits and garden vegetables. The poultry industry is highly developed with 1,227,000 birds in 2006.

In a study made by the Secretaria do Planejamento e Desenvolvimento (Seplan) Luziânia was ranked in seventh place in the state in competitiveness. [ [http://www.seplan.go.gov.br/sepin/ Ranking dos Municipios] ] .

Agricultural data 2006
*Farms: 1,767
*Total area: 216,990 ha.
*Area of permanent crops: 10,019 ha.
*Area of perennial crops: 39,146 ha.
*Area of natural pasture: 112,084 ha.
*Area of woodland and forests: 51,021 ha.
*Persons dependent on farming: 6,100
*Number of tractors: 440
*Cattle herd: 187,000 [ [http://www.ibge.gov.br/ IBGE] ]

The municipality is rich in gold, rock crystals and hardwoods like jatobá, aroeira, peroba, and angico are still found in the fast disappearing forests, now existing mainly on the river banks.

The Corumbá River passes west of the city and receives its untreated sewage, seriously polluting the river waters.

Health and Education

In 2006 the city had two hospitals with 106 beds and 35 walk-in clinics. The infant mortality rate was 21.11 in 2000, well below the state and national average.

The school system had 108 schools in 2007, with 51,799 students and 1,603 teachers. In July 2007 there were two institutions of higher learning: a private school--Faculdades Integradas do Planalto Central-FIPLAC; and a campus of the state university-- Unidade Universitária da UEG. The literacy rate was 89.2% in 2000.

*MHDI: 0.756
*State ranking: 65 (out of 242 municipalities)
*National ranking: 1,706 (out of 5,507 municipalities)(All data are from 2000.) [ [http://www.frigoletto.com.br/GeoEcon/idhgo.htm frigoletto.com.br] ]

Notes

ources of data

* [http://www.ibge.gov.br/ IBGE]
* [http://www.seplan.go.gov.br/ Seplan]
* [http://www.frigoletto.com.br/GeoEcon/idhgo.htm Frigoletto]
* [http://www.seplan.go.gov.br/sepin/pub/anuario/2005/transporte/tab01_transporte.htm Sepin anuario]

External links

* [http://www.luziania.com.br/ Luziânia.com]

ee also

List of municipalities in Goiás