Correio da Cidadania
April 27, 2002

Raul Jungmann, the ex-minister of Agrarian Development and José Abrão, the current minister, have been accused of inflating the numbers of landless people who have been settled on new land. President Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Minister Jungmann have continually stated that 600,000 families have been settled on land during the last 7 years and that this is the greatest land reform in history. According to Cardoso, "In Brazil, I dispossessed more than 20 million hectares of land. This is the largest agrarian reform program in contemporary history." (3/27/2001) Statistics of Incra (National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform) indicate that the government inflated numbers of settled families by 5,000 in the year 2001 alone. Ê

In the land settlement, Bromélias in Jitaiópolis, Santa Catarina, Incra statistics show that 12 families (48 people) were settled there in 2001. A visit to the settlement indicates that there is one small wooden shack with 6 people living it. In Maranhãozinho, Maranhão, Incra indicated that 82 families (400 people) were settled in 2001. The location is completely idle, no one lives there, and thickets cover the land. In another area of Maranhão, government figures indicate that 1,000 rural workers were settled on lots with electricity, water, and credit. The land is idle and empty and, in reality, the families are living in precarious camps on the periphery of the city.

A publication by the Minister of Agrarian Development, "Report on Incra Activities 1995-1999", states that a project of land settlement involves three phases: distribution of lots to families, social and economic infrastructure and technical services, and training for families.

Nationally, government statistics have been inflated by at least 18%. In 2001, 12,000 families were included in statistics as recipients of land even though they had only filled out the form and received no services and no land. In responding to the criticism, Minister José Abrão stated that the government would not announce any more "pure" statistics. Rather, the government would indicate how many families are in each phase of the process. According to Abrão, only families who truly were settled on lots with infrastructure would now be counted as statistics for agrarian reform settlements.

Inflating numbers is used for political advertising and propaganda but unfortunately also used by technicians and investigators to decide future actions regarding agrarian reform. According to the Folha de São Paulo, inflating numbers does not lead the government to beat the record on land reform settlements but only serves to bring the government process of agrarian reform under suspicion.

Source: Correio da Cidadania, 4/27/02 and Folha de São Paulo, 4/21-4/27/02