Matias Cardoso


Matias Cardoso is a municipality in the north of the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil.

Location

Matias Cardoso is located on the right bank of the São Francisco River. It is 10 km. south of Manga and is 72 km. northwest of Jaíba.
As of 2007 the population was 10,270 in an area of 1,938 km².
The municipality contains the Jaíba Biological Reserve, a fully protected conservation unit created in 1994.

Economy

The economy is based on agriculture with emphasis on cattle raising. There were 46,000 head in 2006. The main agricultural crops were cotton, peanuts, corn, manioc, sorghum, sugarcane, and mamona—castor oil plant. The GDP was R$37,034,000 in 2005.

Health

This municipality is extremely isolated from major population centers and suffers from drought and poor soils. It is one of the poorest in the state and in the country.