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Principal investigator: Viviane Pires Ribeiro
Article title: Agrarian and Agricultural Policies in the Context of Northeastern Development: Evolution, Challenges, and Perspectives
Article authors: Emanoel Márcio Nunes, Sergio Schneider, João Matos Filho, Kalianne Freire Godeiro Nunes and Joacir Rufino de Aquino
Location of the intervention: Brazil
Sample size: States in the Northeast region
Sector: Political Economy and Governance
Type of Intervention: The impact of major agricultural and agrarian policies in the Northeast region on regional development.
Primary variable of interest: Evolution of regional development
Evaluation method: Other
Evaluation Context
Considering the evolution of Brazilian development throughout the period from 1950 to 2010, the Northeast region of Brazil has presented a cycle of economic growth and change, in which different contexts are defined based on predominant models in rural areas, resulting from national agrarian and agricultural policies for regional development. The maintenance of old institutions that defend the reproduction of the economic model of the Center-South – with the growth of modernized activities in large companies – and the emergence of new institutions that seek development considering traditional activities through family farming are the most visible manifestations of such changes.
The trends followed by the Northeast region of Brazil over the last six decades can be summarized in two main strands, which stand out as points of intense discussion regarding development strategies aimed at reducing inequality and generating more dignified living conditions in rural areas. The predominant path has been directed more towards exogenous growth models, via the expansion of high-potential sectors, rapid incorporation, and high consumption of external resources, characterized by agricultural modernization, prevailing almost exclusively fueled by generous regional agrarian and agricultural policies. Another path, the traditional model, argues that development should occur through more endogenous models, starting from traditional activities, taking into account the choices and trajectory of actors at the local and regional levels, believing that these actors are capable of deciding their destinies with greater autonomy and participating in the construction of development.
Intervention Details
Nunes et al. (2014) raise the following question: how have agrarian and agricultural policies influenced rural development in the Northeast of Brazil, a region where the economy still heavily depends on agriculture, in different institutional contexts? The hypothesis is that the Brazilian State's choice, especially in the Northeast, has been to consolidate the modern model more than the traditional model, prioritizing agricultural policy mechanisms and insisting on an exogenous model with high use of modern inputs and high external dependence.
In this sense, Nunes et al. (2014) analyze the evolution of the development of the Northeast, especially within the scope of agrarian and agricultural policies directed in the period from 1950 to 2010. To help interpret and explain the changes and evolution of the institutional environment in the analysis of the development of the Northeast region, the authors used a framework with contributions from leading figures such as Douglass North, Oliver Williamson, Ronald Coase, and Vitto Saccomandi.
Methodology Details
As a methodology, Nunes et al. (2014) sought to identify the main agrarian and agricultural policies in the various contexts of Brazilian development, showing regional disparities and the performance of the Northeast region in relation to the others. To this end, the authors conducted a debate on public policies and the role of institutions for the rural environment, subsequently emphasizing the evolution of the contexts of the Northeast region, highlighting the main agrarian and agricultural policies and the institutional influence on the regional development process, listing some challenges and perspectives for the rural development of the region.
Results
The results show that "old" institutions, legacies from previous contexts, have not been fully overcome and influence the design of more recent agrarian and agricultural policies for regional development. Even in an era of economic globalization, where locational forces have highlighted diversified development dynamics, the State insists on reproducing the old sectoral "belief," encouraging exogenous and specialized models based on the formation of Local Productive Arrangements, these geared towards the external market.
The Northeast region must overcome "old" institutions and create "new" institutions capable of expanding economies of scope, even if these are more difficult because they are specific and local, and rooted in the region's culture, making them incapable of replication, according to the fundamentals of regional economics and the institutional approach. Enabling the structuring and stimulating collective forms of production and labor organization at the local/regional level should be prioritized actions to enhance smaller and more flexible economic bases, taking advantage of the abundant economically active population (EAP) in the Northeast.
Lessons in Public Policy
In the pursuit of more autonomous development, mediated by economic institutions, Nunes et al. (2014) believe that the Northeast region should no longer attempt to replicate the economic model of the Center-South of the country, but rather build its own path based on a different perspective on its development. Currently, the challenge is for the Northeast region to define its vocations and build, through the more efficient implementation of agrarian and agricultural policies – such as agrarian reform, the National Program for Strengthening Family Farming (PRONAF), the National Food Acquisition Program (PAA), and the National School Feeding Program (PNAE) – its own innovation processes, for a more solid and lasting development.
According to Nunes et al. (2014), the development of the Northeast region will only begin the process of reversing inequality in relation to other regions of Brazil when its productive base is strengthened. This event is highly likely to be initiated when agrarian and agricultural policies focused on supply (PRONAF and agrarian reform) are integrated with policies focused on demand (PAA and PNAE), efficiently utilizing the valuable potential of the more than 50% of the country's family farmers located in the Northeast.
It is likely that the development of the Northeast will occur in a relatively autonomous and lasting way when the "belief" of reproducing the Center-South model is discarded and its economic dynamism begins with family farming. To this end, this segment must receive sufficient tools to create and develop viable forms of value addition that increase the region's wealth, starting with the modernization of activities capable of proliferating small and medium-sized productive enterprises in the interior.
Reference
NUNES, Emanoel Márcio et al. Agrarian and Agricultural Policies in the context of Northeastern Development: evolution, challenges and perspectives. Planning and Public Policies, no. 43, 2014.
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