Agrarian crisis in Brazilian Amazonia: The grande carajas programme

Abstract

Three decades of government intervention in favour of export‐oriented, large‐scale commercial farming in Brazilian Amazonia have contributed significantly to an agrarian crisis in the region. This takes the form of increasingly violent rural conflict, land concentration, landlessness, environmental degradation and a growing food deficit. After tracing the roots of this crisis in official rural development policy for Amazonia, the article focuses on the most recent large‐scale initiative, the Grande Carajás Programme, maintaining that it is likely to exacerbate such trends. Associated agrarian reform plans are also considered and the article concludes by suggesting that, before any improvement in the agrarian situation can be expected, the long‐standing policy bias against small farmers in Amazonia will have to undergo a fundamental reassessment.