Resource information
Processes of land grabbing and accumulation have greatly threatened small-scale family-based agriculture and societies overall. The destruction of small-scale agriculture can be attributed to national and international policies which actively support the development of a capitalist agriculture with employees.
The States largely encourage the industrial agricultural model by supporting the large farms financially, in the form of subsidies and tax exemptions. The mechanisms for the control of land markets, which aim to preserve lands to the benefit of family farming, are failing. Those with the most means have full scope to take control of immense fertile areas, through rental or sales contracts, often in a completely opaque manner.
The unequal competition of capitalist farms with employees, with better lands and means of production, and the difficulties in accessing markets, put existing family farms in jeopardy. Rural people are progressively left with no other choice than exile or, for a minority, employment in large commercial farms3. Generational renewal is compromised.
