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The public policies that make possible to democratize access to land have been a issue discussed for many decades as a way of reducing land inequality in Brazil. A lot of expectations about the democratization of access to land were created during the two Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's mandates (2003 - 2010) like brasilian president. In this sense, this paper investigate, with regard to the expropriationist agrarian reform proposal and that of land credit, if these proved to be sufficient to modify the agrarian structure in Rio de Janeiro state, in order to contribute to the democratization of access to lands in the state. To this end, it is important to understand the historical factors that influenced the process of elaborating the social function of land and land credit. Regarding the quantitative analysis of expropriations for land reform and land credit, the number of beneficiaries of the programs, hectares available and amounts executed will be observed. The results show that, for the analyzed period, it cannot be said that one proposal overlapped the other. However, the discontinuity in expropriations after 2007 may indicate a paralysis of this form of access to land. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The public policies that make possible to democratize access to land have been a issue discussed for many decades as a way of reducing land inequality in Brazil. A lot of expectations about the democratization of access to land were created during the two Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's mandates (2003 - 2010) like brasilian president. In this sense, this paper investigate, with regard to the expropriationist agrarian reform proposal and that of land credit, if these proved to be sufficient to modify the agrarian structure in Rio de Janeiro state, in order to contribute to the democratization of access to lands in the state. To this end, it is important to understand the historical factors that influenced the process of elaborating the social function of land and land credit. Regarding the quantitative analysis of expropriations for land reform and land credit, the number of beneficiaries of the programs, hectares available and amounts executed will be observed. The results show that, for the analyzed period, it cannot be said that one proposal overlapped the other. However, the discontinuity in expropriations after 2007 may indicate a paralysis of this form of access to land. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An important goal of regional development in the Brazilian Amazon was to enhance social welfare and alleviate dire poverty in other parts of the country by providing land to the poor. Nevertheless, both poverty and landlessness have persisted despite development policies that distributed billions of dollars on highway construction, loans, and outright subsidies. Inequitable land distribution has been held as a prime factor in land conflict across the country. Although episodes of conflict over land are common in Brazilian history, this paper focuses on agrarian issues that arose with the opening of the Amazon frontier in the 1970s. The paper presents a political economy approach that considers the role of hierarchical forces interacting across spatial scales, in creating conditions ripe for land conflict at the local level. The premise is that the Brazilian government, intending to bring about economic and social development, promoted contradictory strategies creating land scarcity. These strategies led to expansion of large ranching operations, creation of conservation units, and demarcation of indigenous reserves, which constrained the pool of land available for small farmer settlement. Empirical analysis employing regression and spatial statistics is used to test the proposed model, advancing previous efforts by applying spatial regression, incorporating improved indicators of conflict and explanatory variables generated by a Geographic Information System (GIS). The findings provide support for some elements of the argument, demonstrating statistically significant relationships between land conflict and land concentration, cattle ranching, and road construction. Finally, a case study analysis of a county in the heart of the land conflict zone is provided, illustrating the interaction of scalar forces, and the articulation of land conflict at the local level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The government of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso (FHC/1995-2002) played a significant role in the consolidation of policies directed to the countryside and the agrarian reform process in Brazil. The aim of this paper was to reflect on the profile and stresses involved in agrarian reform policy of the FHC government, and the ramifications of this policy in light of the number of settled families and areas obtained for agrarian reform in Brazil. It was used as source texts of researchers who studied the ways and waywardness of the Brazilian agrarian reform and data from the "Fight for Land Database" (DATALUTA/NERA/Unesp/Presidente Prudente). It is understood that during the FHC government, despite the number of settled families and obtained areas have considerably advanced when compared to previous governments, agrarian reform was treated marginally, and the government sometimes denied the struggles and the leadership role of social movements in the countryside. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The government of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso (FHC/1995-2002) played a significant role in the consolidation of policies directed to the countryside and the agrarian reform process in Brazil. The aim of this paper was to reflect on the profile and stresses involved in agrarian reform policy of the FHC government, and the ramifications of this policy in light of the number of settled families and areas obtained for agrarian reform in Brazil. It was used as source texts of researchers who studied the ways and waywardness of the Brazilian agrarian reform and data from the "Fight for Land Database" (DATALUTA/NERA/Unesp/Presidente Prudente). It is understood that during the FHC government, despite the number of settled families and obtained areas have considerably advanced when compared to previous governments, agrarian reform was treated marginally, and the government sometimes denied the struggles and the leadership role of social movements in the countryside. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Without education, land reform is not complete. Was thinking this way that the Movement of Landless Rural Workers proposed and succeeded in institutionalizing a proposal for education in the field, appropriate to the reality of the field. The teaching of the MST preaches that besides the land farmers need a transformation of education, an education does not equal, but different from that practiced in the city and own field outside the world under the direct influence of the movement social. In this paper, the intention is to analyze the pedagogical MST, enhancing their power, their actions and their limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the implications of poor or non-existent information on soil quality, at the proper scale, during the planning and implementation of settlement projects in the Brazilian Amazon. Based on data from the Machadinho settlement project, Rondônia, we show that most settlers had no knowledge about the agricultural capability of the area, did not receive technical information, could not afford agricultural inputs, planted inadequate crops in the early years of occupation, and did not manage to stay in their plot for a long period of time. Satellite images indicated that patches of land with good soil quality were not necessarily the first to be utilized. Inadequately planned settlements face many challenges (poor soil being one of them) and are likely to result in land turnover, conversion of land into pasture, land concentration among wealthier persons, invasion of areas by poorer people, and deforestation, defying the main purpose of agrarian reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brazil's Amazon deforestation is a major global and national environmental concern, and the ability to model and project both its course and the effect of different policy options depends on understanding how this process occurs at present and how it might change in the future. The present paper addresses one key factor in Amazon deforestation: land-tenure concentration in settlements. Brazil's policies for establishing and regulating settlement projects represent critical government decisions shaping the landscape in the 5 × 106 km2 Legal Amazonia region. We used remote-sensing data and information provided by the National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform (INCRA) to evaluate the effect of land-tenure concentration in a settlement project (Projeto de Assentamento) located in a frontier area where cattle-ranching is expanding. We identified the actors and their deforestation patterns in the Matupi settlement in the southern part of Brazil's state of Amazonas. We spatially identified actors who concentrated "lots" (the parcels of land distributed to individual settlers) in 2011 and assessed whether the concentration was done by individual landholders or by "families" (where members merged their lots and the clearing was done together). Deforestation rates (1995–2011) were estimated for each type of actor and the trajectory of deforestation in the settlement (cumulative deforestation to 1994 and annual deforestation 1995–2016) was also analyzed. Concentrators occupied 28% (9653 ha) of the settlement and 29% of the lots (152 lots) analyzed; the numbers of lots concentrated ranged from two to ten. Concentrators of two lots and non-concentrators were the predominant actor types in the settlement. The mean annual clearing per landholding for concentrators of two lots (families: 4.1 ± 2.8 ha (mean ± SD); individuals: 5.1 ± 4.6 ha) was greater than for non-concentrators (1.7 ± 1.2 ha), despite their having similar patterns of small clearings. Concentrators of three or more lots had mean annual clearing per landholding between 6.2 ± 12.2 ha and 23.9 ± 38.7 ha and, the pattern of patches cleared per year >34 ha in area was predominant. The deforestation rate per lot was higher among concentrators as compared to non-concentrators, showing that lot concentration speeds deforestation. Analysis of deforestation patterns helps to better understand the process of lot concentration by spatially identifying the predominant patterns of each type of actor. The approach used in our study could assist authorities in identifying and monitoring land-tenure concentration in settlements. Agrarian-reform policymakers need to monitor this process, since it speeds deforestation in Amazonian settlement projects, as well as undermining the social objectives of the agrarian-reform program. • Deforestation in Brazilian Amazonia is increased by land-tenure concentration. • Settlers receive 1 lot per family, but newcomers buy out the original settlers. • "Concentrators" in settlements establish ranches of 2–10 lots (56–600 ha). • In the Matupi settlement, 29% of the lots had been concentrated after 16 years. • Concentrators with ≥3 lots typically clear in patches >34 ha in area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]