Presidente Olegário is a municipality in the north of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. Its population in 2007 was 18,256 inhabitants in a total area of 3,531 km².
Presidente Olegário belongs to the Paracatu statistical microregion. The elevation of the municipal seat is 947 meters. It became a municipality in 1938. This municipality is located 28 km. northeast of Patos de Minas. [1] The distance to the capital, Belo Horizonte is 433 km.
Neighboring municipalities are: Lagamar, Lagoa Grande, Patos de Minas, Varjão de Minas, João Pinheiro and São Gonçalo do Abaeté.
The main economic activities are cattle raising (118,000 head in 2006) and farming. There was also production of charcoal from eucalyptus plantations. This charcoal is transported to the industrial region near Belo Horizonte to be used in the steel and iron industry. The GDP was R$169,963,000 (2005). There were 02 banking agencies in 2006. In the rural area there were 1,790 farms with 260,000 hectares of agricultural land, 34,000 hectares of which were planted, 163,000 were in natural pasture, and 48,000 were in woodland or forest. Around 6,500 people were involved in the agricultural sector. There were 439 tractors, a ratio of one tractor for every 40 farms. The main crops were cotton, rice, sugarcane, beans, tomatoes, soybeans, and corn. In the health sector there were 10 health clinics and 01 hospital with 20 beds. In Patos de Minas, 28 km. away on paved roads there are complete health facilities.[2]
The score on the Municipal Human Development Index was 0.721. This ranked Presidente Olegário 457 out of 853 municipalities in the state, with Poços de Caldas in first place with 0.841 and Setubinha in last place with 0.568. [3]