Land Grabbing, Agribusiness and the Peasantry in Brazil and Mozambique

Elizabeth Alice Clements and Bernardo Mançano Fernandes
Additional contact information
Elizabeth Alice Clements: Elizabeth Alice Clements is a Master’s student in Geography at São Paulo State University (UNESP), Presidente Prudente, São Paulo, Brazil and a researcher at the Center for Agrarian Reform Study, Research and Projects (NERA). Email: liz.clements87@gmail.com
Bernardo Mançano Fernandes: Bernardo Mançano Fernandes is Professor of Geography at the São Paulo State University (UNESP), Presidente Prudente, São Paulo, Brazil and UNESCO Chair in Territorial Development and Education for the Countryside. Email: bmfunesp@terra.com.br

Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy, 2013, vol. 2, issue 1, 41-69

Abstract: This article examines the expansion of agribusiness and the evolution of land grabbing in Brazil and Mozambique. The modernization of Brazil’s agricultural sector, which began in the 1960s, successfully expanded into the cerrado region in the 1980s under the state-led PRODECER project. Modernization and state-led programmes such as PRODECER gave new rise to different forms and practices of land grabbing, creating spaces for investment by foreigners. Over the last three decades the production of soybeans in the cerrado has come under substantial foreign control and in recent years, sugarcane production and foreign investment in the ethanol industry has grown markedly in the region; the social and environmental effects of this have been devastating. In this article we will also examine the recent interest of Brazilian agribusinesses in investing in Mozambican land and in particular, the ProSAVANA programme modelled on PRODECER. We argue that while Brazil is subject to land grabbing by foreign capital, it has also become a promoter of land grabbing in Mozambique.

Keywords: Brazil; Mozambique; land grabbing; ProSAVANA; PRODECER (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2277976013477185 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:agspub:v:2:y:2013:i:1:p:41-69

DOI: 10.1177/2277976013477185

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy from Centre for Agrarian Research and Education for South
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().