O tema do mercado de terras integra a agenda contemporânea das políticas agrárias, tanto no Brasil como em outros países. No caso brasileiro, decorre da história de ocupação do território e da própria formação social e econômica que produziram um quadro de ilegalidade, de instabilidade jurídica e de fragilidade institucional. A expansão da fronteira agrícola com base no agronegócio patronal, em especial na cultura da soja na região da Amazônia Legal, combinada com as ações de reforma agrária, ampliam a importância deste tema e seus impactos sobre a economia e a sociedade.

Contains women’s rights and state-led agrarian and market based land reforms; reinstating the state; engendering customary tenure; rights of indigenous people and marginalised groups; human rights violations; HIV/AIDS; the ‘feminisation of agriculture’. Calls for a new agrarian reform agenda in which the state plays a central role, ensuring that land is established as a common public good, and that its benefits are enjoyed equitably by women and men, regardless of race, class or ethnicity.

Baseline survey which includes a literature review. Findings cover land and livelihoods, land ownership and security of tenure, land rights and decision making, land market and transactions, land disputes. Concludes that the volume of land transactions is too low to support a transformation from subsistence to commercial agriculture, as planned. Smallholder farmers have limited capital options making increased land utilization impossible. Tenure security for women is still far from a reality. There is a need to strengthen land rights of widows and orphans.

A policy to guide resettlement in agricultural projects under ASDP

In August 2001, The Government of Tanzania (GoT) approved the Agricultural Sector Development Strategy (ASDS) which envisages an agricultural sector that, by 2025, is modernized, commercial, highly productive and profitable, and utilizes natural resources in a sustainable manner. The ASDS has identified five strategic issues:

• Strengthening the institutional framework.

• Creating a favorable environment for commercial activities.

• Clarifying public and private sector roles in improving support services.

Customary tenure has been associated with absence of individual ownership, inadequate security of tenure, weak institutions, causing environmental degradation, and discriminating against women. These perceptions are re-looked at in the light of personal experience and observations, and literature review in the context of Zambia.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) hailed the recent Hong Kong Sixth Ministerial Meeting last December 2005 as a positive movement towards the conclusion of the Doha Development Round. The round was supposedly geared towards ensuring that trade contributes to the development objectives of least developed and developing countries.

La Reforma Agraria chilena fue el resultado de una decisión política más que técnica, cuyos resultados significaron un gran avance en la dignidad del campesinado nacional, en la educación rural y positivos resultados productivos.

This report takes a fresh look at the important contribution of agriculture to pro-poor growth. After two decades of decline, investments in agriculture are now on the rise. This major reversal in national policies, as well as donor programmes, reflects an increased awareness of the vital contribution of agriculture to pro-poor growth and the stark reality that 75% of the world’s poor live in rural areas. This policy guidance for donors identifies a new agriculture agenda for enabling pro-poor growth.

Malawi has pursued an agricultural-led development strategy since its Independence in 1964. This agricultural-led development strategy was based on the promotion of a dual agricultural system comprising estate (large-scale) production mainly for cash (export) crops and smallholder agricultural production mainly to support the food security needs of the population. After four decades of agricultural-led development strategies in post-Independence Malawi, economic growth has been erratic and a large proportion of the population lives below the poverty line.

The United Nations predicts that over the next 25 years nearly all population growth will be in the cities of the developing world. At current rates, 60% of the world’s total population will live in cities by 2030. As the cities grow, so does the number of urban poor. Unemployment, hunger, and malnutrition are commonplace. In the big city, most of any cash income the poor might bring home goes to feeding themselves and staying alive; any food that does not have to be bought is a bonus.

The United Nations predicts that over the next 25 years nearly all population growth will be in the cities of the developing world. At current rates, 60% of the world’s total population will live in cities by 2030. As the cities grow, so does the number of urban poor. Unemployment, hunger, and malnutrition are commonplace. In the big city, most of any cash income the poor might bring home goes to feeding themselves and staying alive; any food that does not have to be bought is a bonus.