Rural Development and Poverty Alleviation in Northeast Brazil

The Northeast region of Brazil has long
been the single largest pocket of rural poverty in Latin
America. With a combined area of 1.6 million square
kilometers-16 percent of Brazil's total-the Northeast
is home to 45 million people, 28 percent of Brazil's
total population , of whom 5.4 million people live on about
$1 a day and a total of 10.7 million on $1.60 or less per
day. Nearly half of all rural communities are in the
interior, semi-arid zone characterized by poor soil and
severe, frequent drought. The rural poor are small farmers,
tenants, sharecroppers and landless laborers. They face an
uncertain climate and fluctuating markets. Their access to
land is skewed and there is almost no rural financial system
for their needs. They rely on subsistence cropping of basic
foods, smallscale animal husbandry, some cash crops (mainly
cotton and cashew), casual agricultural and non-agricultural
work, pensions, and remittances from family members living
in the cities.