Agrarian Reform of the World Bank Impoverishes Peasants

"The agrarian reform policies that the World Bank promotes in our countries are unacceptable. They result in free markets and extension of the structural adjustment plans and have led us into extreme poverty. This scenario turns basic services into commodities and lessens the role of the State, leaving control in the hands of the financial oligarchy". This is the position put forward on Monday at the Forum on Land, Territory, and Dignity by Fausto Tórres, from Honduras.

He is a member of the coordinating body of the Global Campaign for Agrarian Reform of La Via Campesina, which is opposed to market-based agrarian reform that is sold and implemented by the World Bank in countries on every continent.. The organization supports the principle of the social function of land, in which the structure of land is democratized and people are guaranteed their food sovereignty..

Implemented by the World Bank in around 30 developing countries, the policy is targeted at ''alleviating rural poverty''. The results of various studies and experiences in countries such as Colombia, Brazil, South Africa, Guatemala and Thailand, show that such projects do not alleviate poverty but rather put peasants into debt..

According to the study carried out by the Network of Popular Research, made up of organizations of La Via Campesina, the agrarian projects of the World Bank benefit the large landowners, who are paid to keep areas unproductive, holding them in reserve. The initiative violates the Federal Constitution, which specifies that unproductive lands should be expropriated.

Ângela Vargas
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