Volume 3, Number 1 - International Development - Special Edition 1999

Title: Rural Land Reform in the Brazilian Amazon: A Strategy for Maximizing Productivity

Author: Karin Berardo

Abstract: Over the past thirty years a growing trend has emerged in political and economic policy reforms in Latin America: a shift away from prior goals of rural sector land reform toward more capital intensive and export oriented rural production models. This has caused increased landlessness among rural populations leading to rural conflict, urban migration, and increased poverty in both rural and urban sectors. Studies in the Brazilian Amazon show that the productivity of intensively cultivated small farms can exceed the productivity of carefully managed cattle ranching, commercial agriculture, or logging operations. The trend, however, has been for economic and land tenure policiesÑas well as private capitalÑto favor large-scale agro-industry, logging, and mining over small farming enterprises. If this productivity studies are true, then an economic argument can be made to prioritize legal and institutional reforms that will improve the land tenure and land security of small farmers. Formal land title and tenure security are general requirements for tenants to access rural credit from both private and public sources. Access to capital and the appropriate application of such capital by small farmers will benefit a large rural population and reduce urban growth, underemployment, and poverty, while boosting the regionÕs and the nationÕs gross domestic product.

About the Author: Karin Berardo is pursuing an International MBA and a Master of Public Policy at the University of Chicago. She has conducted research in the Brazilian Amazon on agricultural practices of migrant small-farmers, rural social movements, and sustainable development.

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