Revisiting Agrarian Reform in Brazil, 1985–2016

Abstract

This article examines Brazil’s experience in agrarian reform from 1985 to 2016. After more than three decades of agrarian reform, Brazil remains a country with highly skewed landownership. Peasant-led agrarian reform efforts have had limited impact in changing this situation. Agrarian reform remains an unfulfilled political promise, and this situation continues to create tensions and conflicts in the countryside. The main reason for the persistence of skewed land concentration is the State’s support of agribusiness. Successive post-1985 democratic governments have encouraged the opening of new agricultural frontiers by providing generous economic incentives. Land redistribution has been offset by further land possession; that is, the expansion of small-scale agricultural farming has been counterbalanced by the expansion of large-scale, capital intensive agriculture. Agribusiness has not only undermined agrarian reform efforts but has also generated a growing dependency on a socially and environmentally destructive monoculture agricultural economy. Moreover, Brazil’s current political and economic crisis has further undermined the struggle for agrarian reform.

Appearances can be Deceptive: Political Polarization, Agrarian Policy, and Coalitional Presidentialism in Brazil

“…In this way, it can influence the government to act favorably to agribusiness and to hinder actions aimed at agrarian reform. Figure clearly shows this mechanism and the shape of the Ruralist Block in that House, during the presidential mandates of Cardoso (PSDB), Lula (PT), and Rousseff (PT) (Robles , 14). Ideological aspects were neutralized with the intention of forming a pragmatic presidentialist coalition to strengthen the government in Congress and, with that, to promote governability.…”

“…Representation of the Ruralist Block ( Bancada Ruralista ) in the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies, 1995‐2015, Total of 513 Members Source : Instituto de Estudos Socioeconômicos—INESC [Socioeconomic Studies Institute—INESC] (Robles , 14).…”

“…Data on party membership were obtained by Franz and Codato's () dataset for the Cardoso and Lula Governments, and complemented by ourselves for the Rousseff Administrations. Decree of expropriation data was acquired from INCRA for the entire investigated period (1995‐2016), and the Ruralist Block information for the Brazilian Congress was drawn from INESC (Robles ). The additional debate arises from numerous articles regarding these areas.…”

Sugarcane Industry Expansion and Changing Rural Labour Regimes in Mato Grosso do Sul (2000–2016)

“…The number of new agrarian reform settlements has been decreasing since 2005 and new settlements have not been established since 2013. Certainly, this dynamic is not caused exclusively by the sugarcane expansion, but by the nationwide advancement of an export-led agribusiness combined with the political abandonment of the peasants and agrarian reform (Robles 2018). However, sugarcane expansion is one more reason for competing claims over land and it is particularly responsibly for the rise in land prices.…”

Peri-urban territories and WEF nexus: the challenges of Brazilian agrarian reform areas for social justice

“…The origins of agrarian reform activist movements, such as the Landless Workers' Movement (MST), can be traced back to the 1980s. In the wake of the crisis after two decades of military dictatorship, thousands of dispossessed peasants, urban and rural working poor called for agrarian reform policy (Robles 2018). In 1988, the new Brazilian Democratic Constitution reaffirmed the basis for agrarian reform to democratize land access by emphasizing the so-called social function of property.…”