PT launches Brazilian agriculture program
On July 24, the Brazil Popular Front, the coalition supporting the Workers Party (PT), launched its program for Brazilian agriculture — Land, Work and Food for Brazilians — in two regions with a strong concentration of rural workers and small farmers.
In Palmeira das Missoes in Rio Grande do Sul more than 10,000 people applauded the speeches of PT presidential candidate Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva, his vice-presidential candidate Jose Paulo Bisol and the candidate for governor, Olivio Dutra. Bisol, who sharply attacked the elites, was acclaimed with shouts of "Whether it rains or it's sunny, it's Lula and Bisol!". In Dois Vizinhos in Parana, more than 12,000 supporters turned out.
The program launched by the Brazil Popular Front will bring profound changes to Brazil's countryside. It covers four basic areas: a program for Brazilian agriculture; agrarian reform; agricultural policies; and rural development.
Dutra noted that "Brazil retains some of the most anachronistic and wasteful landed structures in the contemporary world", and that, "as a consequence of the predominance of plantations, there are at least 50 million hectares of idle agricultural land".
The document describes the agrarian reform as an ambitious project "that will extend for 15 years". Dutra committed himself to land reform for 800,000 families if the Pt won government.
Another essential axis of the program is the production of food for the country's internal consumption. The document notes that mechanisation has increased productivity in the countryside over last 25 years. It nevertheless emphasises millions of Brazilians still go hungry.
While not proposing to eliminate exports, the document is clear that the priority of agricultural production is the production of food for the internal market. [Abridged from LULA-JA, the campaign bulletin of the Brazil Popular Front for Citizenship, the coalition supporting the PT. Via NY Transfer News Collective.]