Deep Roots

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technical assistance and rural extension increased from R$56

million in 2002 to R$945 million in 2014.

Brazil’s family farmers include indigenous peoples, afro-

descendant rural communities, traditional fisherfolk, land

reform settlers, smallholders and cooperatives. Following the

criteria defined in the Family Farming Bill, synergic policies

involving actors from public institutions, the private sector

and civil society organizations were implemented to increase

coverage of this diversity.

Registries have also enhanced policy coordination, and

are an essential element of effective agricultural policy – for

instance, if farmers only have access to credit without proper

technical assistance and market access, they run a higher risk

of defaulting on their loans. Farmers must present a technical

project in order to access the credit lines designed for them,

and they are eligible for public procurement schemes that

facilitate their access to markets. Coordination of these mech-

anisms alongside government-subsidized low interest rates

account for the consistently low default rates (around 1.5 per

cent) for Brazilian family farmers who access PRONAF.

Significant results have been seen in terms of income gener-

ation and poverty reduction in the Brazilian countryside. In

Brazil and Latin America, despite roughly equivalent abso-

lute numbers of rural and urban poor, the poor represent a

higher proportion of the rural population than the urban one.

Over the last decade, poverty reduction in these countries has

been more pronounced in rural areas, and public policies for

family farming have been a crucial factor in this process. In

Brazil, rural income also grew faster in the relatively poorer

north-eastern region – which concentrates roughly half of

the country’s family farms – than in the south-east. If current

trends are maintained, the proportion of the rural population

in the middle income quintile will have risen from one-fifth

in 2003 to half by the end of 2014.

Strengthening family farming can also produce coun-

tercyclical macroeconomic effects that go beyond the rural

economy as family farmers are both producers of agricultural

goods and consumers of industrial goods and services. For

instance, Brazil’s More Food Program, launched as a credit

scheme to increase family farmer productivity during the

international food price crisis of 2007/08, drove 61 per cent

of Brazil’s tractor sales in January to May 2009, becoming an

important cog in a national-scale industrial policy as well as

boosting local and regional economies.

By supplying most of the food consumed in Brazil, family

farming contributes to long-term price stability in the overall

national economy. Its importance was especially felt during the

world food price crisis of 2007/08, as average domestic food

prices in Brazil climbed by 25 per cent compared to a global

average increase of 83 per cent.

The economic and social ascension of 42 million people and

the lifting of 36 million people out of extreme poverty in the last

11 years has considerably increased the national demand for food

products, and family farmers have risen to the challenge. For

instance, 15 years ago, Brazil was among the largest importers

of milk worldwide. Now, Brazil has attained self-sufficiency in

milk production, which today stands at 35 billion litres per year.

Social sustainability

The articulation of a network of public policies directed at

family farmers with an array of social programmes such as

Bolsa Família (Family Grant) have been central to the success

of comprehensive national strategies such as Zero Hunger and

Brazil without Extreme Poverty (Brasil sem Miséria – BSM).

Strengthening family farming was one of the four pillars of the

Zero Hunger strategy and MDA is the main ministry responsi-

ble for policies aimed at eradicating extreme poverty in rural

areas under BSM.

Image: Empresa Brasileira de Correios e Telégrafos

A postage stamp commemorating the International Year of Family Farming illustrates the importance of family farming in all aspects of sustainable development

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