Alfenas is a city and municipality in the southern part of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais

Minas Gerais

Minas Gerais is one of the 26 states of Brazil, of which it is the second most populous, the third richest, and the fourth largest in area. Minas Gerais is the Brazilian state with the largest number of Presidents of Brazil, the current one, Dilma Rousseff, being one of them. The capital is the...

 state. In 2007 its population was 71,628 and the area of the municipality is 849 km². The elevation is 888m. It is served by highways MG 179, BR 491 and BR 369. The distance to the state capital of Belo Horizonte

Belo Horizonte

Belo Horizonte is the capital of and largest city in the state of Minas Gerais, located in the southeastern region of Brazil. It is the third largest metropolitan area in the country...

 is 335 km and the distance to São Paulo

São Paulo

São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...

 is 300 km. The slogan for the city is "Alfenas, the gateway to the sea of Minas", in reference to nearby Lake Furnas.

The economy

The main economic activity is the growing of coffee, with a planted area of 16,000 ha. Alfenas is the headquarters of the Brazil Specialty Coffee Association. After coffee other crops are corn, with 6,000 ha., potatoes, beans, tomatoes, and vegetables. Bananas and citrus fruits are also grown.

Agricultural Data for 2006

• Number of farms: 1,102
• Farm area: 56,821 ha.
• Area of permanent crops: 13,900
• Area of perennial crops: 7,074 ha.
• Agricultural workers related to the producer: 2,926
• Agricultural workers not related to the producer: 4,625
• Number of tractors: 553

Health and Educational Data for 2006

• Hospitals: 4 private with 477 beds
• Health clinics: 12 public and 13 private
• Schools: 30 primary schools (20 public and 10 private) and 10 middle schools (6 public and 4 private)

Municipal Human Development Index

• MHDI: .829
• State ranking: 8 out of 853 municipalties
• National ranking: 144 out of 5,138 municipalities
• Life expectancy: 76.8
• Literacy rate: 91 Frigoletto

Higher learning

Alfenas is an important university town and is well known around the country for its courses in agronomy and dentistry.

• Unifenas (Universide José do Rosario Velano). This private school had 18 undergraduate courses and an enrollment of 4,549 in 2005. There are graduate courses in animal science and health.

There were courses in medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, and nursing among others.

• Unifal (Universidade Federal de Alfenas). This public school had 15 undergraduate courses in dentistry, nursing, and pharmacy among others. Enrollment was 1,320 students in 2005. There are graduate courses in chemistry and pharmacy.

Tourism

One of Brazil's largest artificial lakes, Furnas is located scant kilometres away to the north. It bathes 34 municipalities. Its waters are used for boating, jet-ski, swimming, and fishing. The lake attracts a great number of tourists to the region and the city is well served by hotels. In 2006 there were 18 hotels with approximately 1,200 rooms.