The development of Rio Verde began in 1838 when the government offered a tax exemption for ten years to anyone who would settle in the area. In 1846 lands were donated for the building of the first chapel, Nossa Senora das Dores. In 1848 it was made a freguesia with the name Dores de Rio Verde. In 1882 it was elevated to a city.
The Economy
Rio Verde is the largest producer of grains in the state, reaching up to 790 thousand metric tons per year of rice, cotton, soy, maize, sorghum, millet, beans and sunflowers. A large production of sugarcane for the extraction of sugar and ethanol is also notable. The arable land exceeds 2,300 square kilometres. With 320,000 head, the city has one of the largest cattle herds and is the largest producer of milk in the state, producing 61 million liters per month. It also is a large producer of poultry and pigs. Approximately 20 thousand head of cattle are slaughtered per month, supplying both the domestic and international markets. Agricultural production in hectares:
cotton: 2,800
rice: 2,500
sugarcane: 2,900
beans: 5,600
corn: 59,000
soybeans: 250,000
sorghum: 20,000
wheat: 500
In the agricultural sector there were 2,166 farms in 2006 with a total area of 513,233 hectares, of which 281,871 hectares were planted, 141,289 hectares were in pasture, and 74,187 hectares were in woodland. Farms employed 3,928 workers.
Rio Verde is a regional health care center, with 110 physicians and 150 dentists, in all specialties, 26 clinics, two mobile and one airborne intensive care units, and three ambulances. It has also 9 hospitals, 1 hemocenter and 1 municipal emergency care center, 11 ambulatory public health centers, which dispense about 25,000 consultations a month. It has also a Family Medicine Program, with eight teams.
Commerce and industry
Rio Verde had 242 industries, 1,768 commercial establishments and 1,996 service establishments. It has also 5 industrial districts. The largest employer is the Mixed Cooperative of Agricultural Producers of Southwestern Goiás, the first to be founded in the entire Center-West region, ranking among the three largest of the country, with more than 4 thousand employees and generating 1.3 thousand jobs. Rio Verde attracts 62% of the private investments of the state, 60% of the agricultural loans by Banco do Brasil and 15% of the state’s agricultural operational funding. The agricultural vocation is expressed by the strong development of agricultural tourism and events, with emphasis on technologies that bring entrepreneurs and researchers from all over of the world. The city has four radio stations, two TV stations, Digital cable TV and two newspapers.
Quality of Life
The municipality is one of the most prosperous in the state. In 2000, Rio Verde earned a score of 0.807 on the UN Human Development Index, ranking it number 1 out of 242 municipalities in the state, and number 44 out of 5,507 municipalities in the country.
Sister Cities
Rio Verde has established partnerships with these cities:
