Landowners in Brazil owe nearly R$1 trillion to the federal government.

Relatório da Oxfam revela dívidas astronômicas, que, se pagas, assentariam 214 mil famílias; e governo Temer quer anistiar setor

published 14/12/2016 at 13:04

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By Cauê Seignemartin Ameni

originally published in De Olho nos Ruralistas

Does agribusiness, as its defenders claim, bear the brunt of the Brazilian state’s expenses? According to the report “Lands of Inequality: Land, Agriculture and Inequality in Rural Brazil,” published by Oxfam, the answer is no. Data from the Attorney General’s Office of the National Treasury shows that 4,013 individuals and legal entities holding land owe R$ 906 billion, a debt greater than the GDP of 26 states.

The amount is equivalent to half of what the entire Brazilian state collected in 2015. Or approximately 22 Petrobras scandals.

Each of the 4,013 debtors has debts exceeding R$ 50 million. According to data from the National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform (Incra), there is an even more select group of 729 owners who declared possessing 4,057 rural properties, totaling a debt of R$ 200 billion. The lands belonging to this group cover more than 6.5 million hectares, according to information registered in the National Rural Registry System.

Incra estimates that with these lands it would be possible to settle 214,827 families – considering the average plot size of 30.58 hectares per settled family. In other words, it would be possible to meet the needs of twice the 120,000 families who were camped out demanding agrarian reform in 2015, using the lands of the largest debtors to the Brazilian State.

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