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The
city of Cuiabá is located in the south/central part of Mato Grosso along the
Cuiabá river. Its sister city is named Várzea Grande. The greater metro area
has approximately 750,000 inhabitants. Cuiabá has been the state
capital since 1818 and is known for being at the geographic center of South
America. The city is a tourist attraction for many that wish to see the Pantanal.
The Pantanal is the world's largest wetland area and home to many exotic
wildlife species. Another tourist attraction near the city is the Chapados
Guimarães
. This is a
beautiful plateau that overlooks the whole basin below including the city of
Cuiabá.
Cuiabá is the gateway to the new ag frontier located to the north of the
city. 3 major airlines service the city. It takes about 1.5 hours
to fly from São Paulo to Cuiabá. From there one can connect to the frontier
using 1 of 4 turbo prop commercial air companies located
at the main terminal. One can also use various forms of ground
transportation including buses, vans, and rental cars.
Cuiabá has 3 soybean meal crushing plants. Soybeans are transported from the
north to either Cuiabá or
Rondonópolis. The soybeans are crushed into meal
and oil. The meal is then transported back out to the frontier as a feed
supplement to hogs and chickens. The oil is used locally or trucked to other
population centers for human use for cooking oil.
Future plans include a road going west to the Pacific Ocean. The road would
originate at Cuiabá and go through Peru to a port on the Pacific coast. This
would make Brazilian Soy from the center-west region much more attractive to
Asian buyers.
Other plans consist of extending the railroad from Rondonópolis to Cuiabá.
Rondonópolis is a city of 125,000 people 3 hours to the southeast of Cuiabá
by car. With these plans in place Cuiabá will continue to be a major HUB of
economic growth. All crop input supplies pass through Cuiabá as they go
north to the frontier. And all crop production from the north of Cuiabá pass
through the city. During the busy harvest season it is said that 10,000
SEMI-tractor trailer trucks (60 tons) make the trip back and forth from
Cuiabá to Rondonópolis PER DAY.
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