Regional impacts of land reform in Brazil

B. Heredia, L. Medeiros, M. Palmeira, R. Cintrão and S.P. Leite
Beatriz Heredia, Professor, Postgraduate Programme in Sociology and Anthropology, and Moacir Palmeira, Professor, Postgraduate Programme in Sociology and Anthropology, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Leonilde Medeiros, Professor, Rosângela Cintrão, Researcher, and Sérgio Pereira Leite, Professor, Postgraduate Course in Development, Agriculture and Society, Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

This article describes short-, medium- and long-term change processes resulting from the establishment of rural agrarian reform settlements in Brazil. It is based on a study carried out in selected regions of Brazil with the greatest concentration of settlement projects and number of families of settlers per unit of territory. The research goal was to understand the transformations in the lives of the settlers as well as the changes in the regions where the settlements are located. The establishment of agrarian reform settlements has provided greater social stability as well as shifts in livelihood strategies. However, the subsequent demands for improved infrastructure have not been adequately addressed by the government.

INTRODUCTION

Much of the research on agrarian reform settlements (ARS) in Brazil has analysed internal conditions, related policies and the progress of agrarian reform settlers. However, few studies have examined the importance of the implementation of ARS for the regions in which they are located. This article addresses the issue by identifying the processes of change that the ARS have brought about in their local settings.

The creation of ARS results in short-, medium- and long-term changes, the effects of which are felt both within the projects - affecting the lives of the settlers - and externally. Rather than assigning them a negative or positive value to changes identified, this analysis is designed to measure and characterize the changes. The aim is to create indicators and identify relationships by comparing the current and previous situations of the settlers, as well as by comparing the social and economic conditions within ARS with those in the surrounding areas. The article also analyses the effects of local and regional projects.

METHODOLOGY AND SAMPLE CHARACTERISTICS

The focus of this study was a set of Brazilian regions with a large concentration of settlement projects and a high density of settled families per land unit. The defining criteria were the existence of a set of neighbouring municipalities with a relatively high concentration of ARS in terms of number of projects, families and occupied areas; and common historical, economic, social and organizational dynamics. Six large zones were chosen: the Federal District and surrounding areas, the northeastern sugar cane region, the Sertão (semi-arid) region of Ceará State, southern Bahia State, southeastern Pará State and western Santa Catarina State.^[4] Within each of these greater zones, sample zones were chosen that contained groups of municipalities with the largest concentrations of projects and the greatest proportion of settlers compared with the overall rural and urban populations.^[5]

The ARS analysed were implemented by the Instituto Nacional de Colonização e Reforma Agrária (INCRA - National Institute for Rural Settlement and Agrarian Reform) from 1985 to 1997. The starting date was based on the initial implementation of the Plano Nacional de Reforma Agrária (PNRA - National Land Reform Plan), which represented a turning point in settlement policies that had, until then, remained similar to those of colonial times. The year 1997 was chosen as the end of the study period because it was believed that 12 years would be the minimum amount of time the projects would take to have an observable impact. Further details of the sample are provided in Table 1.

ESTABLISHMENT OF ZONES AND THE LAND DISTRIBUTION PROCESSES

The main motivation for establishing the PNRA was to establish priority areas for land reform. However, opposition from the anti-reform movement led to this idea being abandoned. Subsequently, only expropriations led by workers' movements were carried out. These took place more frequently than during the time of the military regime and occurred as a consequence of social struggle and mobilization.

Although landless workers' initiatives have taken many different forms (sometimes involving a combination of strategies and changing over time), 64 percent of the ARS studied were the result of "land occupation" (Table 2). "Land resistance" tactics also played an important role and were responsible for the creation of almost one-third (29 percent) of the ARS studied.

An analysis of the time distribution of the implementation of these projects shows an unequal distribution: 25 percent of the projects were started between 1985 and 1989, a mere 8 percent from 1990 to 1994 and 67 percent from 1995 to 1997.^[6] This variation could plausibly be attributed to the different political stances on land reform during successive Brazilian governments. The drop between 1990 and 1994 may be explained by a delay in regulating constitutional norms, which took place in 1993. However, the percentage distribution of the establishment of ARS in the 1985-89 and 1995-97 periods tends to coincide with a change in the distribution of forms of struggle used by the landless workers (towards land occupation), thus suggesting that the initiatives of the landless workers were the true driving force of the expropriations.

A careful analysis of the variations in the overall pattern in each zone strengthens this hypothesis. The drop in the number of new ARS during the 1990-94 period occurred in all but the Pará zone. There was also an increase in the number of ARS during the 1995-97 period in all zones except for Santa Catarina. Southeastern Pará is the only zone in which there was a rise in the number of ARS between 1985 and 1997; this trend was repeated in the whole State of Pará and in all of northern Brazil. This situation in the Amazon region was the result of a combination of factors: the pressure applied by those struggling to acquire land; the old idea of colonization as an alternative to land reform; and the perspective of good farming business through INCRA's expropriation of formerly public land that had been purchased by private parties at extremely low prices.

TABLE 1
General characteristics of the sample zones

Source: INCRA records and data from the study.
State initials: AL = Alagoas; BA = Bahia; CE = Ceará; DF = Federal District (located within the State of Goiás); GO = Goiás; MG = Minas Gerais; PA = Pará; PB = Paraiba; PE = Pernambuco; SC = Santa Catarina.
*A "profile" was drawn up for each project in order to collect general information on the agrarian reform settlements. Not all projects implemented in a given state between 1985 and 1997 were included in the survey. Nevertheless, the sample of questionnaires covered 10 percent of the families settled in all of the projects. A questionnaire was issued to the person responsible for each plot of land (i.e. the person managing it, usually the head of the household, regardless of whether or not he or she was legally the owner). This ensured that each questionnaire represented one production family unit. The study also utilized qualitative interviews with representatives of different local and regional institutions, geographic data, technical reports and secondary statistical sources.

TABLE 2
Distribution of the ARS by workers' methods of resistance in the sample zones

Source: Settlement profile - field study data, 2000. See Leite et al., 2004.
* Land resistance: this includes all cases of struggle on the part of rural workers (inhabitants, partners, tenants and squatters) to stay on the land where they were living and/or working. It also includes cases of "gradual occupation" (four in southern Bahia and nine in southeastern Pará), i.e. clandestine occupation usually carried out by small groups of squatters who wish to build and eventually acquire land tenure rights. In these cases, conflicts only arise when the occupation is "discovered", at which point resistance on the land begins.
** Occupation: this refers to the massive and public occupation of land that has become frequent over the past 15 years. This action initially stemmed from the efforts of the Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST - Landless Rural Workers' Movement), but was then adopted by other movements, including the union movements, which in some regions play a more important role than the MST.
*** Other: all cases in which the initiative was not carried out by the workers and their movements, as well as those in which the actions of the workers and their movements do not fit into the other two categories.

The large number of ARS established in Santa Catarina during the first period was the result of the large-scale occupation of land in the western part of the state by the MST and by some rural workers' unions, with the support of the Commisão Pastoral da Terra (CPT - Pastoral Land Commission), when the PNRA was first proposed.

Another striking situation is that of the northeastern sugar cane region. In this zone, the occurrences of land expropriations and number of ARS created during the 1985-89 period were extremely low; they increased only after 1995 as a consequence of the unprecedented crisis affecting the sugar cane industry since the second half of the 1980s. In the wake of MST actions, land occupation, which was infrequent, until recently, has become the rural workers' main instrument for dealing with the crisis.

The regional concentration of ARS is thus the result of a battle waged by the different players who fought for repossession of the land and rationalization of its use. In the confrontations, workers' movements have been able to define "priority areas" for government intervention and have been hegemonic in the design of models for ARS, i.e. patterns of social relations.

THE SETTLEMENTS AND REGIONAL, POLITICAL AND SOCIAL DYNAMICS

Settlers and their families

A large number of settlers were already living in the rural areas where they are now before they moved into the ARS: over 80 percent of those studied in the sample came from the same or a close municipality.

Before joining the settlements 75 percent were previously employed in farming activities as permanent or temporary paid workers, squatters, partners or land tenants or as unpaid family members.^[7]

As to the level of schooling of those responsible for the plots of land, the overall results show that 87 percent had not attended school after fourth grade and 32 percent had received no schooling. Only 2 percent had attended school beyond eighth grade.

The average number of children was three per family.^[8] In many cases (24 percent), the families lived with other relatives, such as parents, in-laws, children, siblings and grandchildren. In most cases, these relatives did not live with the nuclear family before moving into the ARS but were subsequently incorporated into the family unit,^[9] which implies that ARS have reunited families.

Moving into a settlement does not only involve isolated families (with or without added relatives), but also extended family groups: 62 percent of settlers have a relative who lived on another plot in the same settlement.

Characteristics and internal organization of settlements

The locality and size of the settled areas are usually an ad hoc occurrence, because they are the result of conflicts that extend over time, and because they depend to some degree on the features of the agrarian structure. The set of zones can be divided into three groups based on the total area of settlement projects and the number of settler families.

The first comprises southeastern Pará, the Federal District and surrounding areas, and the Ceará Sertão, with settlements characterized by large tracts of land and a large number of families (more than 60 percent of the projects with areas larger than 2 000 hectares and over 50 families). The second group includes southern Bahia and western Santa Catarina, where the settlements tend to be smaller with fewer families (most of them with less than 1 000 hectares and fewer than 50 families). The third group is the northeastern sugar cane region, where small tracts of land are occupied by large numbers of families, which reflects a greater rural and urban population density (more than 60 percent of the projects with less than 2 000 hectares and more than 50 families).^[10]

The average area of plots in the whole sample is 35.5 hectares, but this varies greatly between zones, ranging from 7.8 hectares in the northeastern sugar cane region to 72.6 hectares in southeastern Pará. There is a clear-cut difference between southern Bahia, western Santa Catarina and the northeastern sugar cane region, on the one hand, where the average settlement size is greater than 2 000 hectares and plots are smaller than 20 hectares and, on the other hand, southeastern Pará, the Federal District and surrounding areas, and the Ceará Sertão, with ARS larger than 8 000 hectares and an average plot size of more than 30 hectares.^[11]

In general, the internal physical organization of the projects follows a pattern that already existed among the local family farmers before the ARS were established, although some innovations have taken place.

In most of the units studied, the houses are located on the plots. Farming communities are found in almost a quarter of the projects (most of them in southern Bahia and in the sugar cane region), usually coexisting with population groupings that predated the ARS. In the Ceará Sertão zone, there are communities (different-sized groupings of settlers' houses) surrounded by subsistence croplands. The pastures are often collective. In the larger projects, each community has an association that organizes the economic activities of its members, and the settlement as a whole has one central cooperative that coordinates the associations. In the southeastern Pará zone, although most of the houses are on the plots, the occupation of the areas has led to the foundation and/or expansion of villages. In some cases, these villages are developing into small commercial and service-providing centres, which attract other people in addition to the settlers.

In the Santa Catarina zone, the houses are on the plots and the communities follow the local pattern and may precede the ARS or be formed as a consequence of them. One new form of organization is that of the núcleos (centres), i.e. political and organizational divisions within the ARS, the creation of which was proposed by the MST to facilitate the discussion of problems and demands made to the government. In the northeastern sugar cane region, old mills, farms or, in some cases, farm dwellings built by INCRA became meeting places for the settlers to discuss economic or political initiatives.

Comparison of ARS and total farming area

In the states studied, a comparison of the total area of rural ARS established by INCRA up to 1999 (excluding the ARS implemented by the state governments) with the total area of farming and cattle ranches listed in the 1996 census reveals that, except in Pará, the ARS area ranges from 0 to 5 percent of the total farming area.

Nevertheless, in the sample zones studied, the ratio of settlement area to farming area in the municipalities is significantly greater, which indicates a territorial development process in land reform. As shown in Table 3, there are important variations among the zones (and even among the municipalities that compose a given zone), ranging from a mere 3.1 percent (1999 data) in the southern Bahia zone to 40.4 percent in the southeastern Pará zone. This indicates that, although the impact may seem modest at the state level, it tends to be meaningful in the chosen areas, especially in those municipalities where it increased significantly between 1997 and 1999.

Access to public policies and conditions of infrastructure

In general, the infrastructure of the settlements in the zones studied is quite poor, in keeping with the substandard conditions found in most Brazilian rural areas. However, this does not mean that nothing has changed; the creation of the ARS and the expectations of those involved necessarily gave rise to a number of demands and claims, the satisfaction of which depends on the extent to which settlers can organize themselves and on the local political situation.

In the settlements studied, 81 percent of the families benefited from development credit, 72 percent from housing credit and 75 percent from food credit, which represents a reasonable amount of coverage. However, these data must be evaluated taking into account the fact that the credit approval process is extremely lengthy. Delivery of the development and food credit took an average of nine months from when the projects were officially created. The housing credit took over two years (28 months on average), which made the initial stages more difficult and undermined families' capacity to carry out their activities.^[12]

TABLE 3
Settlement project area as percentage of total farming area

Sources: INCRA, 1999; IBGE, 1996.
* States: percentage of total area of the SPs created up to 1999 in the zone state(s) compared with the total area of farmlands in those states. The projects belonging to the Land Title Programme in Bahia, Ceará, Minas Gerais and Pernambuco were included.
** Municipalities in sample: percentage of total settlement area (established by INCRA up to the year shown) in comparison with the total farming area in the set of municipalities of the sample zone.
*** Area strata: the comparative size is used to determine the percentage of the total area of the settlement plots compared with the area of farms within the same size range in the municipalities (according to data from the 1996 Farming Census). An average of the areas reported by the settlers was used to establish the size range that predominated in each zone, which was 0 to 20 hectares in the sugar cane region; 0 to 50 hectares in southern BA, CE Sertão and western SC; and 0 to 100 hectares in the DF and surrounding areas and southeastern PA.

When questioned about their current and past housing conditions, 79 percent of the settlers reported an improvement. Answers varied between regions. On average, only 8 percent of the settlers stated that their situation had become worse.

With regard to the water supply, most settlements have problems related to a lack of or bad-quality water. In nearly 46 percent of settlements, interviewees reported that there were plots with insufficient water available for production. Seventy-eight percent of the projects had on-farm electricity, but only 27 percent received an adequate supply. In 66 percent of the cases studied, electricity was only furnished some time after the settlement had been established. In 53 percent of the projects that have electricity, the settlers reported having made demands in order to obtain it.

Living on a settlement seems to improve the chances of children attending school. A large percentage of the school-age population attends school: around 90 percent of children between the ages of 7 and 14, and 60 percent of young people between 15 and 19. In a comparative assessment, settlers were asked to compare the current versus previous schooling situations. They acknowledged shortcomings but 70 percent considered that the situation had improved, 20 percent that it had not changed much and 9 percent that it had worsened.

There were also youth and adult education programmes in 64 percent of the cases studied. Most of the programmes are sponsored by the Programa Nacional de Educação na Reforma Agrária (National Programme for Education and Land Reform), created by the federal government as a result of pressure from workers' movements (especially MST) and a small number by the local authorities. This has made literacy possible for some of the adult population on the ARS: in the projects studied, 6 percent of adults over 30 years of age participated in these programmes. There is a lack of classrooms, however, and most of the courses teach reading and writing only, and are short-term, offering no prospects for continuity.

As for the health services, although there were a significant number of community health workers (in 78 percent of the projects), community health centres existed in only 21 percent of the ARS studied, mostly built as a result of pressure from the settlers. Even when there are medical facilities, there are usually no doctors available on a regular basis.^[13] Given this bleak situation, most of the settlers seek health services in the same municipality (in 92 percent of the projects), in neighbouring municipalities (42 percent) or in cities that have general hospitals (2 5 percent).

Principles of association and political participation

Given the precarious infrastructure, combined with the difficulties of settling on the land and, in more general terms, in reproducing the family farms, the establishment of the settlements is less an end point of a struggle and more the starting point for new social and economic demands. The new situation forces settlers into life experiences that they would have rarely encountered in their previous situation. They begin to organize themselves, establish dialogues with the government, make demands, apply pressure and negotiate. In short, they begin a number of activities that put them at the front line of political participation.

The study showed that the presence of settlements in the various zones brought about changes in the relationships between the workers who live in them and the local authorities, by either demanding new forms of action, strengthening traditional patronage systems or empowering new leaders to run for public office.

Associations, present in 96 percent of the ARS studied, are a predominant form of organization for settler representation. Their existence is essential because they represent the settlements legally and in formal dealings with government departments and other agencies.

These data indicate that the political experience acquired in the struggle for the land has produced new leaders and forms of representation, as well as lessons on the importance of different forms of organization and their capacity to produce demands.

SETTLEMENTS AND THE DYNAMICS OF REGIONAL ECONOMIES

Work and job creation

In the current context of crisis in the farming sector and of difficulties in reproducing family farming, the ARS provide an important source of employment and access to land tenure. In the total population above the age of 14, 79 percent worked only on the plot, 11 percent worked both on the plot and elsewhere, 1 percent worked elsewhere only and 9 percent declared they did not work. Thus, 90 percent of the settlers over 14 years old worked or helped on the plot, with an average of three people per plot. Of the 12 percent who worked elsewhere (including those who worked only elsewhere and those who worked both on the plot and elsewhere), 44 percent did so occasionally, 24 percent temporarily and 31 percent on a permanent basis. It is worth mentioning that of those who worked elsewhere, more than half (56 percent) carried out activities only within the settlement itself, including non-farm work created by the project (construction of roads and collective infrastructure, teaching, food and health services, collective work, product processing, etc.).

Although the ARS are evidently job creators, some settlers choose to leave (temporarily or definitively): 28 percent of the families in the ARS in the zones studied reported having had a family member leave the plot. Overall, 42 percent of the departures were a result of the need to search for employment and/or another land property (the highest percentage being 60 percent, in Ceará).^[14] Twelve percent of the plots in the ARS studied had lost members who left in order to find employment elsewhere.

TABLE 4
Main plant products grown in the 1998/99 crop season by category in each zone*

Source: Field study data, 2000. See Leite et al., 2004 and IBGE, 1999a.
* This table was compiled using the five products with the greatest percentage in each zone collected in interviews with those who declared growing the product, selling it or considering the product important. Empty cells represent cases in which there was no single product representing at least 1 percent of the total.
** GP = gross production.

Farming production

The ARS produce a wide variety of products. Table 4 shows the five top percentages (by zone) of farm products cultivated, sold and considered important in the 1998/99 crop season. It also includes the five products that contributed the most to the plots' gross production (GP).^[15]

It is evident that there is not necessarily a match between the most common products, those sold and those considered important, nor between these and the products with the greatest GP. Maize, cassava and beans are clearly the most commonly grown products as well as those considered important by the greatest number of settlers, with exceptions in some zones. This choice has a strategic value, as these products are easily sold and are crucial in the families' daily diet. They are followed by taro root, bananas and rice.

Analysis of the share of different farming products in the overall GP (the only animal products included are milk and eggs),^[16] showed that milk, cassava, maize, beans, eggs, rice, pineapples, soybeans, taro root and cassava flour were in the top ten positions (representing 78 percent of the GP). Of these, the first three account for 48 percent of GP and the first five for 61 percent.

Both dairy and beef cattle are important in all the zones except for southern Bahia and the sugar cane region. They are especially important in southeastern Pará (sale of calves and milk production), western Santa Catarina, and the Federal District and surrounding areas. Poultry for meat is considered important by many producers but they seem to be reserved mostly for subsistence rather than commercial use (meat and eggs), except in the zones in southeastern Pará and Federal District and surrounding areas, in which they are also sold. Pork production is common (except in the southern Bahia and sugar cane region zones) and is almost exclusively used for subsistence.

Impacts on local production

A comparison between the data on production obtained from the study and secondary data may provide some indication of the impacts of the ARS on the municipalities in which they are located.^[17]

Comparing the settlers' overall production (based on an estimate of the ARS' farming products in 1998/99) and the municipalities' overall production (using data from the 1999 municipal farming and livestock studies [IBGE, 1999a, b] and from the 1996 farming census [IBGE, 1996]), it can be observed that most of the ARS contribute to diversifying the farming products in their areas by introducing new crops and by significantly increasing the production of some secondary crops. Moreover, these ARS are leading producers of many of the products that are already traditional in the areas studied.

It is clear that there has been a diversification of products in areas where monocultures or extensive cattle grazing have been predominant. This has led to changes in the forms of production in regions afflicted by the crises caused by the patronage farming systems. Diversification has also had an effect on the lives of the settlers because the coexistence of subsistence and commercial production acts as a safeguard for families when sales are difficult, in addition to representing a quantitative and qualitative improvement in the local and/or regional market.

Productivity, technical assistance and level of technology

Relevant products were compared in terms of productivity by comparing the average productivity in the ARS (1998/99 crop season) with the average productivity in their respective municipalities, according to the 1996 farming census.^[18] This analysis revealed that, in 42 percent of cases, the projects attained greater productivity than the average farms in the region. In 10 percent of cases, their productivity was approximately the same and in 48 percent it was well below that of the other farms. These figures varied between zones. This increase in productivity could not have taken place without access to technology and technical assistance. Data from the 1998/99 crop season showed that, in the sample studied, only 55 percent of these ARS benifited from the frequent presence of technical assistants, 22 percent received occasional assistance and 13 percent received none at all. These percentages varied greatly between zones.^[19] In nearly 80 percent of the projects that did have regular technical assistance, it was provided by technicians brought in by the programme Lumiar, a technical assistance programme for ARS. Implemented by the federal government, Luminar began in 1996 and was terminated in 1999.^[20]

The term "facilities" includes structures used for raising animals (such as corrals, chicken coops, pig sties, fenced pastures and stables - which were the most commonly reported type of facilities), for storing water (tanks and dams), for drying and storing produce (sheds, silos, terraces, warehouses, etc.) and for product processing. In the plots studied, 57 percent declared that they had facilities. Of these, the average number is 2.36 facilities, which reflects a lack of infrastructure on the plots.

The final observation relates to the utilization of machinery and equipment. Only 65 percent of interviewees declared having utilized any type of machine or mechanical equipment during the 1998/99 crop season.^[21] This means that nearly one-third of the settlers in the projects studied had no access to any kind of machinery or equipment except for basic hand tools (hoes, sickles and machetes, for example). However, although the figures are low in absolute terms, comparison with the settlers' previous situation shows that their access to means of production has increased.

Access to credit

Of the rural worker families interviewed, 93 percent had never had access to credit for financing production before becoming settlers. Moreover, as the availability of financial resources for credit fosters a set of local activities, it also increases the circulation of currency in the municipality. A further consequence is that a direct dialogue is established with the state government authorities, i.e. policy-makers and financial agents.

In the 1998/99 crop season, 66 percent of families interviewed received rural credit, which represents a reasonable amount of coverage, and the average amount was 2 200 reais each.^[22] The main source of financial resources (88 percent of the interviewed families who had access to credit) was the INCRA-funded Programa de Crédito Especial para a Reforma Agrária (Special Credit Programme for Agrarian Reform). However, more than half (59 percent) of interviewees who received credit reported difficulties in obtaining it. The main complaint (78 percent) was related to the delay in disbursement which, in agriculture, can significantly undermine the results, e.g. if the money is not available at the time of planting when it is most needed. Several statements collected by the researchers suggested that the credit received by the ARS has a direct repercussion on the dynamics of the local commerce of neighbouring municipalities, where a high number of the settlers buy their goods.

Impacts on sales

With regard to the sale of products, the study showed that the ARS sometimes reproduce pre-existing local situations, without introducing innovations in the marketing channels. In other cases, however, they may create new possibilities or alter existing channels. It must be borne in mind that the poor condition of roads and other negative aspects of the infrastructure have a detrimental effect on marketing.

In all of the zones, intermediaries are very important. The presence of the ARS increased the volume of production and/or introduced new crops, in some cases facilitating the creation of new networks of intermediaries which, even when operating traditionally, can benefit local farming activities.

The study also showed that sales to other settlers play an important role within the ARS, and that the projects may, in some cases, provide a market for the settlers' products, especially when there are large numbers of families.

Marketing and processing through associations have also been experimented in several places, often by establishing new points of sale (farmers' fairs or roadside stands) and sales cooperatives, by implementing small agro-industries, or by creating new brand names for the products sold. These associative enterprises are often an important factor in the sale of products but, in addition, they serve to reaffirm the settlers' social and political identity as well as underlining the success of the settlement experience.^[23]

Impacts on living conditions

Access to land gives families greater stability and enables them to reorganize their family development strategies. In most cases, this leads to an improvement in income and in living conditions, in clear contrast to the poverty and social exclusion that many of the families suffered before entering the settlement projects.

An analysis of income components (or, rather, the capacity to generate income) for the 1998/99 crop season reveals the importance not only of the income derived from the plots in all zones, but also that of other sources of income, such as pensions, and the diverse forms of employment outside the plots. The average percentage for each type of income is 69 percent for income derived from the plot, 14 percent for external employment and 17 percent for social security benefits.

Although the issue of settlers' income has often been raised - to prove both the success and the failure of the land reform settlements - the present study attempted to break down this variable and to obtain a more qualitative measurement of the settlers' living conditions, of their chances of gaining access to goods and services, and of the way they view this new situation and the opportunities it offers.

Comparing their previous living conditions with their current conditions, 91 percent of the settlers interviewed said they considered their situation had improved after arriving in the settlement. A more global analysis would seem to confirm this perception. The Ceará Sertão and the northeastern sugar cane zones (where incomes were below the threshold of poverty in the previous analysis) are among those that had the highest rates of perceived improvement: 95 percent and 92 percent, respectively.

Despite the relatively poor conditions, settlers expressed much hope when they assessed their families' future. Overall, 87 percent of interviewees believed that the future would be better, with very little variation between the zones. As other studies indicate - and the data from the present study confirm - the settlers appear confident about their future; their access to land has given them the prospect of greater long-term stability.

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

Factors such as the extent of social conflicts in the struggle for land in Brazil, the adoption by social movements of forms of struggle that were effective (such as the collective occupation of land) and the greater concentration of ARS in certain regions - many of whose large properties are undergoing crises in their production systems - all contributed to forcing the government to carry out expropriations in one or several municipalities. This process gave rise to the zones analysed in the study, some of which are truely "reformed areas", in contrast with the previous method of isolated expropriations, and created a new paradigm in the regions in which they were established.

As shown in this article, the changes brought about by the existence of the ARS are multiple and depend on the specific contexts in which they arise, the density of the different projects, the history of the settlers and the regional differences in public policy.

It would be safe to say that the establishment of the ARS led to land redistribution and made land tenure possible for rural workers, who usually come from the same region, but it did not drastically alter the overall scenario of land concentration in the zones: the changes in the agrarian structure are only noticeable locally. The ARS are the result of a struggle for the land. They are a point of reference for public policy but they lack infrastructure. For all of these reasons, the settlements may be viewed as starting points for other demands, such as the affirmation of new identities and interests and the establishment of new forms of organization within the projects. Thus, the ARS can bring about changes in the local political scenario, taking the presence of the settlers to political spheres and to electoral campaigns.

In some of the zones analysed, the ARS have caused a reorganization of the rural areas, modifying the landscape, the population distribution patterns and the course of roads and highways. This has led to the formation of new population agglomerations and has changed levels of production, often stimulating the autonomy of districts and even the creation of new districts.

The establishment of the ARS has provided greater stability and shifts in livelihood strategies, which have led to an improvement in the living conditions of the settlers, increasing their buying power not only of foodstuffs, but also of consumer goods in general, such as home appliances, farming inputs and equipment. In this manner, they bolster local commerce, especially when there is a high concentration of settlers.

In many areas, the settlers have obtained the social and political recognition of other social groups, overcoming the tension that occurred initially, often marked by the impression that the settlers were "foreigners" or "troublemakers" (especially in the areas where the ARS resulted from land occupations). Beyond the economic issues, new social actors have appeared and the dignity of a previously excluded population has been re-established. Many settlers gave testimonials about what it means to be a settler, especially in the areas where there used to be monocultures and the power relations that characterize them.

Within the zones studied, important changes have stemmed from the ARS. Nevertheless, the health services, schools, infrastructure, access to technical assistance and other necessary items are clearly lacking, which indicates inadequate government intervention in the process of agrarian transformation and a marked continuity of the substandard conditions that afflict the Brazilian rural landscape.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This article summarizes some of the results of the study (The regional impacts of land reform: a study of selected areas), carried out from January 2000 to December 2001 by the Postgraduate Course in Development, Agriculture and Society of the Rural Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (CPDA/UFRRJ) and the Núcleo de Antropologia da Politica, Postgraduate Programme in Sociology and Anthropology and the National Museum of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (NuAP/PPGAS/MN/UFRJ), with financial support from the Núcleo de Estudos Agrários e Desenvolvimento Rural and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture. The study was headed by Beatriz Heredia (Institute of Philosophy and Social Sciences/UFRJ), Leonilde Servolo de Medeiros (CPDA/UFRRJ), Moacir Palmeira (Nuap/PPGAS/MN/UFRJ), Sérgio Leite (CPDA/UFRRJ) and Rosângela Cintrão. The summary, on which this article is based, was prepared by Rosângela Cintrão and John Comerford, under the guidance of the project coordinators, and is available at www.nead.org.br/index.php?acao=biblioteca&publicacaoID=204.

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