Left: Households headed by women account for 27% of poor rural people Above: Favelas (slums) in metropolitan areas
President Dilma Rousseff became Brazil’s first female president in 2011 elected on the Worker’s Party and enjoys a high popularity rating. She oversees a country where most people are considered middle class. Brazil has one of the world’s fastest growing major economies, and its economic reforms have given the country new international recognition and influence The Brazilian economy is the world’s sixth largest by nominal GDP and the seventh largest by purchasing power parity, as of 2013. Top of the list of economic attractions is agriculture and the processing of foodstuffs, which account for about a quarter of Brazilian GDP and 36% of exports. In the last 20 years it has become the world’s largest producer of sugarcane, coffee, tropical fruits, and has the world’s largest commercial cattle herd (50% larger than that of the US) at 170m animals, according to official figures. Oil is expected to become the next big commodity for export, especially if a way can be found to drill safely in the Atlantic’s deep waters. Reserves are believed to equal those shared by Norway and the UK in the North Sea. Although the country is an important agricultural and industrial power, with the strongest economy in Latin America, poverty is widespread in Brazil. Despite recent improvements in income distribution, the issues of income inequality and social exclusion remain at the root of rural poverty. The vast slums that shape its city landscapes have become almost emblematic of a deep poverty and ingrained inequality that contradicts Brazil’s ambitions of growth and modernity.
Whilst the economic boom of the past decade led to a significant decrease in the country’s poverty rate, poverty and inequality are still a serious problem and one of the major challenges faced by the government In the country as a whole, about 35 per cent of the population lives in poverty, on less than two dollars a day. But in Brazil’s rural areas poverty affects about 51 per cent of the population. Poverty in Brazil is most visually represented by the various
favelas, slums in the country’s metropolitan areas and remote
up country regions that suffer economic underdevelopment and below par standards of living. The poorest and most vulnerable groups among Brazil’s rural poor people are women, young people and indigenous peoples. Households headed by women account for 27 per cent of poor rural people. Either because their husbands migrate to other parts of the country in search of work, or because they are single parents, women bear responsibility for running the family farm as well as their households. And child labour is still common among poor households in rural Brazil. Currently Brazil’s government is offering $8.7 billion in lowinterest loans for people enrolled in a low-income housing program to outfit their homes with furniture and appliances. President Dilma Rousseff launched the program in June to boost domestic demand. But Rousseff says the lower middle class has limited access to credit, and she hopes they’ll now start borrowing and buying. The new credit program will make $2,500 available to each household enrolled in the housing program at 5 percent annual interest, far below normal lending rates in Brazil
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THE SEED - VOL 25, No. 7 JULY 2013