Already the largest producer in the world of soy and beef, it has the capacity to adapt more crops to its tropical soils and develop its vast land frontier.

CNN: Does Brazil deserve its 'B' for BRIC?

But even if their fields were untouched, growers of tropical fruit and vegetables key crops in the government's efforts to wean farmers off coca-growing have often seen their roads to market washed away.

ECONOMIST: The season of El Niño | The

Still, by now, in the big coca-growing area the tropical Chapare region, inland from the Andes three times as much land is used for these crops as for coca.

ECONOMIST: Deadly drug? That��s coca leaf