Expert: Ken Rapoza Cruz - 1/22/2005

Question
Can you please tell me what is the seeming dilemma faced by Brazil: land for the landless at the expense of the environment?

Answer
Peter:
This question requires hours to respond to. Do you recall the American Forty Acres and a Mule policy post-slavery? It gave freed blacks 40 acres of land to live on, and survive off of. In Brazil, nothign like that has ever happened, tho this is not a movement largely comprised of black Brazilians, dont get me wrong. Brazil is run by a collection of rich family oligarchs who control most of the land in the country, unlike the US, where individuals also own land -- and lots of it.

Hundreds of thousands of poor families are trying to get land under the government's agrarian reform policies, which seeks to redistribute land owned by people who are either not farming the land, or using it for land speculation. The landowners receive market vallue for their property, over a 10 year period. The landless then take over the land, divide it up into small lots (say an acre or two) and live off the land; some more successful than others. There is no harm to the environment. The gov is not chopping down forest to make room for the poor.

Go here for more info:
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20040510-095609-3141r.htm