What are the challenges for rural development in the Northeast region of Brazil?

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Responsible researcher: Viviane Pires Ribeiro

Article title: AGRICULTURAL AND AGRICULTURAL POLICIES IN THE CONTEXT OF DEVELOPMENT IN THE NORTHEAST: EVOLUTION, CHALLENGES AND PERSPECTIVES

Authors of the article: Emanoel Márcio Nunes, Sergio Schneider, João Matos Filho, Kalianne Freire Godeiro Nunes and Joacir Rufino de Aquino

Location of intervention: Brazil

Sample size: States in the Northeast region

Sector: Political Economy and Governance

Type of Intervention: Effect of the main agrarian and agricultural policies in the Northeast region on regional Development

Variable of main interest: Evolution of regional development

Assessment method: Other

Assessment Context

Taking into account the evolution of Brazilian development over the period from 1950 to 2010, the Northeast region of Brazil has presented a cycle of economic growth and changes, in which different contexts are defined based on predominant models in rural areas, results of national agrarian and agricultural policies for regional development. The maintenance of old institutions that defend the reproduction of the economic model of the Center-South – with the growth of modernized activities in large companies – and the emergence of new institutions, which seek development considering traditional activities through family farming are more manifestations visible of such changes.

The trends followed by the Northeast region over the last six decades can be summarized in two main aspects, which stand out as points of intense discussion about development strategies that aim to reduce inequality and generate more dignified living conditions in rural regions. The predominant path has been directed more towards exogenous growth models, via the expansion of sectors with high potential, rapid incorporation and high consumption of external resources, characterized by agricultural modernization, prevailing almost exclusively fueled by generous regional agrarian and agricultural policies. Another path, that of the traditional model, defends that development should occur via more endogenous models, based on traditional activities, taking into account the choices and trajectories of actors at the local and regional level, believing that they are capable of deciding with more autonomy in their destinies and participate in the construction of development.

Intervention Details

Nunes et al. (2014) raise the following question: how in different institutional contexts have agrarian and agricultural policies influenced rural development in the Northeast, a region in which the economy still depends heavily on agriculture? The hypothesis is that the choice of the Brazilian State predominated, especially in the Northeast, in order to consolidate the modern model more than the traditional model, prioritizing agricultural policy mechanisms and insisting on an exogenous model of high use of modern inputs and high external dependence.

In this sense, Nunes et al. (2014) analyze the evolution of the development of the Northeast, especially within the scope of agrarian and agricultural policies directed in the period from 1950 to 2010. To help interpret and explain the changes and evolution of the institutional environment in the analysis of the development of the Northeast region, the authors used a framework with contributions from exponents such as Douglass North, Oliver Williansom, Ronald Coase and Vitto Saccomandi.

Methodology Details

As a methodology, Nunes et al. (2014) sought to identify the main agrarian and agricultural policies in the different contexts of Brazilian development, showing regional disparities and the performance of the Northeast region in relation to the others. To this end, the authors held a debate on public policies and the role of institutions for rural areas, later emphasizing the evolution of the contexts of the Northeast region, highlighting the main agrarian and agricultural policies and the institutional influence on the regional development process, listing some challenges and prospects for rural development in the region.

Results

The results found show that “old” institutions, legacies from previous contexts, have not been completely overcome and influence the design of the most recent agrarian and agricultural policies for regional development. Even in an era of economic globalization, in which localization forces have demonstrated diverse development dynamics, the State insists on reproducing the old sectoral “belief”, stimulating exogenous and specialized models based on the formation of Local Productive Arrangements, these aimed at the external market.

The Northeast region must overcome the “old” institutions and create “new” institutions that are capable of expanding economies of scope, even though these are more difficult because they are specific and local, and are rooted in the region's culture, making them incapable of replicating them, according to the fundamentals of the regional economy and the institutional approach. Enabling the structuring and stimulating collective forms of organizing production and work at the local/regional level should be prioritized actions to enhance smaller and more flexible economic bases, taking advantage of the active economic population (EAP) so abundant in the Northeast.

Public Policy Lessons

In the search for more autonomous development mediated by economic institutions, Nunes et al. (2014) believe that the Northeast region should no longer try to reproduce the economic model of the Center-South of the country, but rather build its own paths from a different perspective on its development. Currently, the challenge is that the Northeast region needs to define its vocations and build, based on the more efficient implementation of agrarian and agricultural policies - such as agrarian reform, the National Program for Strengthening Family Farming (PRONAF), the Program National Food Acquisition Program (PAA) and the National School Meal Program (PNAE) – their own innovation processes, for more solid and lasting development.

According to Nunes et al. (2014), the development of the Northeast region will begin the process of reversing inequality in relation to other regions of Brazil only when its productive base is strengthened. This event is highly likely to be initiated when supply-focused agrarian and agricultural policies (PRONAF and agrarian reform) are integrated with demand-focused policies (PAA and PNAE), efficiently utilizing the valuable potential of the most 50% of the country's family farmers present in the Northeast.

It is likely that the development of the Northeast will occur in a relatively autonomous and lasting way when the “belief” of reproducing the Center-South model is discarded and its economic dynamism begins through family farming. To this end, this segment must receive sufficient instruments to create and develop viable forms of adding value that increase the region's wealth, based on the modernization of activities capable of proliferating small and medium-sized productive enterprises in the interior.

Reference

NUNES, Emanoel Márcio et al. Agrarian and Agricultural Policies in the context of Northeast Development: evolution, challenges and perspectives. Planning and Public Policies, n. 43, 2014.

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