Políticas trabalhista, Fundiária e de Crédito Agrícola e Seus Impactos Adversos Sobre a Pobreza no Brasil

This paper discusses the question of the concentrated pattern of agriculturaldevelopment in Brazil, as expressed in the predominance of large-scale production,high level of mechanization and low absorption of non-qualified labor. It is proposed,initially, the existence of two conflicting explanations for this fact: the first, thatblames our historical heritage, characterized by the predominance of the latifúndio,with the implication that the solution requires a radical agrarian reform; and thesecond, that sees in this concentrated pattern of agricultural growth in Brazil atechnological determinism, with the implication that lesser concentration in agriculturewould imply a loss in economic efficiency. Diverging radically from these two lines ofarguments, this paper attributes to the agricultural labor and to the land policies thatwere instituted in the 1960s, and to the agricultural credit policy, instituted by thesame time, the major responsibility for this problem. As argued in the paper, thesepolicies turned unviable in Brazil not only the agricultural temporary labor market,but also family farm, at the same time that stimulated agricultural mechanization andthe predominance of large-scale production. The paper ends up proposing, in amanner consistent with the analysis presented, that the only way to initiate the deconcentrationof our agricultural growth would be through a radical de-regulationboth of agricultural labor and land markets, instituting in Brazil, at last, freecontracting, the most basic capitalistic institution.