São João do Pacuí


São João do Pacuí is a municipality in the north of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. As of 2007 the population was 4,003 in a total area of 420 km². It became a municipality in 1997.

Location

São João do Pacuí is located at an elevation of 640 meters between the São Francisco River and Montes Claros. It is connected by state highway to Coração de Jesus. It belongs to the statistical microregion of Montes Claros. Neighboring municipalities are Coração de Jesus, Campo Azul, and Brasília de Minas. The Rio Pacuí crosses the municipal area.
Distances
The most important economic activities are cattle raising, commerce, and subsistence agriculture. The GDP in 2005 was R$ 11,064,000. São João do Pacuí is in the bottom tier of municipalities in the state with regard to economic and social development. It suffers from isolation, poor soils, and periodic drought. As of 2007 there were no banking agencies in the town. There was a small retail commerce serving the surrounding area of cattle and agricultural lands. In the rural area there were 507 establishments employing about 2,600 workers. Only 35 of the farms had tractors. There were 117 automobiles in all of the municipality. There were 21,000 head of cattle in 2006. The crops with a planted area of more than 100 hectares were beans, sugarcane, manioc, and corn.

Health and education

In the health sector there were 03 clinics and no hospitals. In the educational sector there were 06 primary schools and 01 middle school.
The highest ranking municipality in Minas Gerais in 2000 was Poços de Caldas with 0.841, while the lowest was Setubinha with 0.568. Nationally the highest was São Caetano do Sul in São Paulo with 0.919, while the lowest was Setubinha. In more recent statistics Manari in the state of Pernambuco has the lowest rating in the country—0,467—putting it in last place.