Jataí, Goiás, Central-West Region, Brazil

🇧🇷 Jataí is a municipality in southern Goiás state, Brazil. Jataí is a major producer of agricultural products, including soybeans, rice, and corn. It has the largest herd of cattle in the state and is a large producer of poultry and swine. In 2000 it was the 6th largest municipality in area in the state.

Geography Jataí is located in the south-west part of the state at the confluence of the São Pedro and Claro rivers. The state capital of Goiânia is 316 km (196 mi). away. Highway connections are made by BR-060 / Abadia de Goiás / Guapó / Indiara / Acreúna / Santo Antônio da Barra / Rio Verde. See Sepin

Geographical limits: Caiapônia, Mineiros, Itarumã, Aparecida do Rio Doce, Caçu, Cachoeira Alta, Rio Verde, Mineiros and Serranópolis.

Jataí is part of the Southwest Goiás Microregion, which has 18 cities and a total area of 56,293.30 km² (21,734.96 sq mi).

Geography: Hydrography The municipality is located in the Serra do Caiapó, which divides the basins of the Araguaia and the Parnaíba rivers. Its hydro graphic network belongs to the basin of the Paraná, being composed of tributaries on the right bank of the Parnaíba.

Rivers: Claro, São Pedro, Doce, Ariranha e Paraíso. The water is supplied by the Claro river and distributed to the population after treatment.

History The history of Jataí, like that of all the south-west of Goiás, makes up the last phase of the expansion of cattle. In 1836 José Manoel Vilela, from Minas Gerais, came from the east, crossing the Rio Verde. He set up a cattle ranch on the banks of the Rio Claro. Soon a settlement was formed with the name "Paraíso". In 1864 a district was formed with the name Paraíso de Jataí. The first church was built in 1867. In 1882 the municipality of Paraíso was created. Later, in 1885, the name was changed to Jataí.

Demography • Population density: 11.07 inhabitants per square kilometre (28.7/sq mi) (2003)

Economy Jataí has a number of small-sized commercial establishments and service-providing enterprises. Its economy is mostly based on agriculture (soy, rice, corn, beans, and bananas), cattle, pig, and chicken raising, although commerce and transformation industries—especially the clothing industry—play an important role, they are highly dependent on the town's agribusiness. In 2005 the biggest employer was commerce with 3,811 workers, followed by public administration with 2,969 workers, and industry with 2,828 workers. (IBGE)

Economic data • Number of Industrial Establishments: 139 (2007) • Industrial District: Distrito Agroindustrial - DAIJA (Sept/2007) • Meat-packing Plants/Egg collection: Gale Agroindustrial S/A (07/06/2005) • Dairies: - Laticínios Dallas Ind. e Com. Ltda.; - Agromilk Indústria e Comércio de Laticínios Ltda.; - Dairy Partners Americas Manufacturing Brasil (07/06/2005) • Banking Establishments: - -Banco ABN AMRO Real S.A. -Banco do Brasil S.A.(2) - BRADESCO S.A (2) - CEF - Banco Itaú S.A.(2) - HSBC Bank Brasil S.A –Banco Múltiplo (August 2007) • Number of Retail Commercial Establishments: 1,124 (2007) • Motor vehicles: 13,671 automobiles, 1,535 trucks, 3,248 pickup trucks, and 7,742 motorcycles. (2007)

Multinational enterprises • ADM - food processing company, headquartered in United States. • Foods Brasil SA - food processing company in Brazil. • Cosan - national leader in the sugar-alcohol sector, the largest producer of sugar and ethanol in the world. • Louis Dreyfus Commodities - improved processing of food in Europe with headquarters in France. • Nestle - Processing of foods, headquartered in Switzerland.

Animal raising • Poultry: (head) 2,479,000 • Cattle (head) 323,000 • Swine: (head) 30,000 • Milk cows (head): 42,300

*Agricultural data * • Farms: 1,590 • Planted area: 218,670 ha (540,300 acres) • Natural Pasture: 200,445 ha (495,310 acres) • Woodland and Forest: 96,712 ha (238,980 acres) • Persons occupied related to the farm owner: 3,013 • Persons occupied not related to the farm owner: 3,060 • Main crops: soybeans (20,000 ha [,000 acres]), corn (108,000 ha [,000 acres]), soybeans (230,000 ha [,000 acres]), sorghum (26,000 ha [,000 acres]), sunflowers, and wheat.

Infrastructure There are three institutes of higher education, including a campus of the Federal University of Goiás. This campus features 9 courses distributed in three academic units: the Center of Human Sciences, Letters, and Exact Sciences, the Center of Physical Education and the Center of Agricultural and Biological Sciences.

In the health sector there were four hospitals, 11 clinics, and one maternity.

In communications there were 5 radio stations and two local television stations. In addition there were 2 newspapers.

Education • Schools in activity: 64 with 24,600 students • Higher education: - Centro de Ensino Superior de Jataí (CESUT) - Federal University of Jatai (UFJ) - Pólo Universitário da UEG - Instituto Federal de Goiás (IFG) • Literacy Rate: 89.8%

Health • Hospitals: 5 • Beds: 198 • Walk-in health clinics: 27 • Infant mortality rate: 17.77 (in 1,000 live births).