Brazil is a rich country. It's the eighth largest economy in the world. It's a big country, with 842 million hectares of land, and 160 million people. But most Brazilians live in poverty. According to the UN, Brazil is the most unequal country in the world. For decades, Brazilian economists have said that the root cause of this problem is land concentration and lack of access to education. The Brazilian elites benefit from this situation by maintaining economic and political control over the majority of the population.

The highest levels of hunger and illiteracy are in the countryside, where farm workers have no job security. All over the world, agrarian reform was implemented as a way to deal with these problems. In most democratic societies, land distribution was a way to create jobs and improve the lives of rural workers. History shows that all developed countries have created a strong internal market and an industrial base by investing in their agricultural sector.

In Brazil, our Constitution gives us the legal means to implement a broad agrarian reform. It allows for the disappropriation of agricultural land that does not fulfill its social function. This means that the Brazilian government can buy large pieces of land--which should be producing food instead of being held only for speculative purposes--and sell them to landless farmers, who can pay it back within twenty years, at low interest rates. The Brazilian government can determine what land it will buy and at what price. Yet, President Cardoso's government chose to undermine this process. Instead, it's now implementing the "magic formula" prescribed by the World Bank, called "Land Bank".

Banco da Terra hurts the landless and helps rich landowners

According to this new process, the large land owners choose what land they would sell. The landless peasants have to borrow money from the World Bank, with market-type interest rates, and pay up-front for the land. Apparently, this would resolve land conflicts in Brazil: if farmers need land, they can just buy it! But it raises serious concerns. First, large land owners have always kept their land for speculative purposes. It's also a way to exert control over the population in the countryside. So, whoever decides to sell will probably sell the worst land for high prices. This will create a vicious cycle: the landless farmers won't be able to pay back their loans and the large land owners will have cash to buy more, and better land.

The World Bank project follows two basic ideas: it depends on the will of the large landowners to sell their land and allows them to determine the market price. This formula will never solve the serious social conflicts we face in the countryside.

The World Bank does not take into account our history and does not know the reality of the 4.5 million landless families in Brazil. At the same time, we have 130 million hectares of large farms which are kept idle. The Brazilian government has the means to disappropriate these lands. If the World Bank wants to help, it could provide resources for infrastructure--such as education, irrigation, health care projects, and credit for production--after the disappropriation process. Instead, the World Bank chose to put money into the large landowners' pockets.

The most important rural workers' organizations in Brazil--including the Brazilian Association for Agrarian Reform (ABRA), The Pastoral Land Commission (CPT), and the Landless Workers Movement (MST)--have asked the World Bank to suspend the project. Yet the World Bank has ignored our claims. As a consequence, the agrarian reform process has stalled since president Cardoso's reelection last October. The Brazilian government has cut the 1999 budget for agrarian reform by 53%, including specific funding for health care and literacy programs. These cuts were part of the "austerity measures" demanded by the IMF and the World Bank. Brazilian farm workers organizations are now asking National Congress to restore these funds.

Meanwhile, social tension increases. Today, 110,000 families are organized in 500 encampments all over the country. They live in plastic tents, with little food and water and no access to health care or schools. Facing this dramatic situation, a number of farm workers' organizations are pressuring the Brazilian government to negotiate a solution. On June 26, we began a march from Rio de Janeiro to Brasilia, with 1500 people walking 1300 kilometers. Upon their arrival, we expect that 100,000 people will gather in Brasilia. We are demanding not only changes in agricultural policies, but also in economic policies that generate more poverty in our country.

João Pedro Stedile is a member of the MST National Board.