.. • - TABLE OF lAND -TE.N.U.RE CENTER LIBRARY I • 'UNIV~RSITY OF WISCONSIN l MAdiSON, WISCONSIN Introduction Pa~e 1 Th ~ Land P aFte 2 Th~ People Pa~e 5 Th~ Economy Par;r:e 7 So:ia1 Problems Pa~e 15 Su DENF Pa~e 17 The u.s. Eoonomic Aid Pro~ram Pa~e 22 Statistioal Annexes From Pa~e 30 onwards JUN261975 April 29, 1963 .- 1 ~ ALLIANCF FOR PROGRF.SS IN NORTHEAST BRAZIL INTRODUCTION • The Northeast Is Brazilos oldest and most hIstorIc re~lon. The Portu~uese explorer Pedro Alvar es Cabral rlrst dIscovered BrazIl In 1500 near what Is today Salvador,Bahla. ColonIzatIon or the area be~an In 1532 and It has been contin­ uously occupied ever since. Yet, remarkably little is known about the Northeast and statistical info­ rmation 1s hl~hly Inadequate. The purpose of this pape Is to present helpfUl backF.raund materIal and statistical annexes to introduce the reader to The Land; The People; The Fconomy; Social • Problems; BrazilIan errorts to meet the problems of the Northeast (particularly throu~h SUDENF. - the Superintendency for the Development or the orthaast) and the United states EconomIc Aid Program in Northeast Brazil. 2 . THF. ALLIANCF FOR PROGRFSS IN NORTHEAST BRAZIL oj THF LAND • The Brazilian "Northeast" has been variously derlned. • For some it is the "PolYp'on of Droup:hts",an area defIned by le~islation which contains about 1,000 square kilometers The Polyp:on or Drou~hts (lar~er than Texas and about 10% or the area of Brazil) Includin~ portions or the States or Piau!, Ceara, RIo Grande do Norte, Paraiba, Pernambuco, Ala~oas, Ser~ipe, Bahia and twenty-t wo municipalities ot Northern Minas Gerais (see map and Annex 1). This semi-arid area has been p1avued by recurr ent drouvhts and rloods, which have brouvht ~r eat economic losses and human misery. The area under the jurisdict10n or SupENE (see p) consists of the entirety of the states enumerated above, plus the state or Maranhao, and contains about 1,600,000 rea under Sl1DENE square kilometers. Maranhio, Ser~ipe and Bahia, trom Jurisdiction • the ~eo~raphic al viewpoint, are rrequently re~arded as tallin~ outside Northeast BrazIl, but were included within the SUDENE area ot jurisdiction because their ecolop:ioa1, s ooial and economic conditions are sImilar to those of the Northeastern states. In particular, the state of Maranhao was included within the SUDF.NE juris~ diction because of the possi bilities it otfers for mI~ration to the surplus population of Northeastern st tes. 3. For purposes of the briefin~ paper the Northeast is defined as the SUDFNE area, minus the twenty-two municip­ alities of Minas Gerais. This arbitrary decision has been made in or~er to facilitate statistical comparisons (it is not possible to obtain separate statistics on this small section of Minas Gerais). Even so,such statistical material as is available on the Northeast is sparce, in­ complete and frequently inaccurate. For purposes of this paper then,the nine states of the Northeast contain 1,548,672 square kilometers ( or 680,000 square miles) representin~ 18.2% of the total area of Brazil. The Northeast is la~~er than France, As Defined in this Spain and Portu~al combined, and the only countries of Paper South America which exceed the Northeast 1n size are Ar~entina, Bolivia and Peru. The lar~est of the states of the Northeast is Bahia, with an area of 561,026 square kilometers and the smallest is Ser~ipe,with 21,994 square kilometers. (See Annex 2). Lying between latitudes 1° South and 18° South, the Northeast lies entirely within the tropics. The presence or lack of rainfall is of critical si~ificance for the Located in Northeast, and from this standpoint the area can be Tropics divided climatically between the Zona da Mata and the Zona da Caatinga. The Zona da Mata is a narrow coastal strlp,be~innln~ Zona da near Natal in Rio Grande do Norte, and widenin~ to the ata south. The area was ori~lnal1y covered with hi~h tropical forests, most of which were destroyed by colonists. The zone is characterized by ample and usually re~ular rainfall, ft averap-'in~ over 1,000 millimeters (over 50 ) per year. The rainy season lasts from February to Au~ust, with a precipita­ tion durinJl these months of up to lOti per month. The re<;ldish or yellowish clay soils have been historically used for the production ot export crops, primarily su~ar cane, on lar~ e fazendas. (More intorma~lon on the Zona da Mata appears below in the economic section). The Zona de Caatin~a is divided in two sub-areas 0 the Agreste, a transition zone between the Mata and the dry area; Zona da ,aatinga and the Sertao, a very dry area ~enerally coincldin~ with the Poly~on ot Drouv.hts. These sub-divisions are not very clear­ ly defined, and climatic conditions can vary ~reatly within the sub-divisions. The Zona da Caat1n~a reaches to the coast in Rio Grande do Norte and Ceara.- Its ve~etation is characterized by sparse, low, thorny, deciduous trees, with isolated isl nds )rou~ht Area of mata ve~etation in hi~her elevation. The zone has very irre~lar raintall, with drou~hts occurin~ on an avera~ e of every 7.) years. The most recent drou~ht occurred in 1958- 1959, so that one ml~ht anticipate another drouv.ht about 1965. The soil is course and porous, and does not hold rainfall near the surface. The more fertile areas are used for crops, particularly lon~ staple cotton, and other areas are used as larve oattle ranches and subsistence farmers . (More information on the Zona da Caatin~ appears below in the economio seotion). s. THE PEOPLE In 1963 the estimated population of the Northeast is 23,858,000 (or 31% of the total population or Brazil) and the population is 1ncreas1n~ at a rate of about 2.5% per year. The Northeast is relatively densely populated with an avera~e of 16 people per square kilometer (as O!,­ Population posed to 10 people per square kilometer for Brazil as a whole). Density varies from 6 people per square k.lometer in Piau! to 47 people per square kilometer in Ala~oas (for population statistics see Annex 3). Sixty per cent of the population lives within 100 miles of the coast in the Zona da Mata. As in the rest of Brazil, the predominant ethnic ~roups are PortupUese, Indian and Ne~ros. However, the Ethnio ~roups and reli~ion proportion of the latter two elements probably runs far hi~her in the Northeast than in the east and south of Brazil. The area is nominally 95% catholic. While Brazil as a whole is 55% urban and 45% rural, the Northeast is only 34% urban and 66% rural. As would be expected, the urban population is ~reate8t where indust­ rialization and commerce have pro~essed (45% in Pernambu­ Rural-Urban Distribution co) and least in the economically least developed areas or Population (24% in Piaut). In recent years there has been sizeable 6. m1~ration from rural areas to the Cities, particularly the capital c1t1es of the states, which now contain 13% of the populatIon of the states. It is estl~ted that by 1990 the oapIta1 oities will oontain 16% of the populatIon of the Northeastern states. (See Annex 4). About 150,000 people leave rural areas each yea of which about 100,000 ~o to urban areas in the North­ east, and $0,000 leave the Northeast. These mi~ration fiuures vary . vreatly from year to year, dependIn« chiefly on climatIc and economic condItions. THE ECONOMY As indicated above, most of the basie economic and social problems of the Northeast are directly related to the nature and utilization of the land A A~ricultural and the predominant role of a~ricu1ture in the life 'Domination of - Economy of the Northeast. In 1960, while the Northeast con­ tributed only l6~ of Brazil's total Gross National Product, it contributed 22% of the nation's a~ricult .. ural product but only 8% of its industrial product. (See Annex 5). An understandin~ of the NortheastOs' a~rarian structure is therefore prerequisite to an understandin~ its social, economic and development problems. Economy in the Zona da Mata The narrow coastal "Zona da Mata" strip, nev:er penetratinpo inland more than 70 miles is .by far the most produc.tive ap:ricu1t­ ural re~ion. It encompasses almost the totality of the better soils, and its abundant rainfall. For more than three centuries, however, the ttZona da Mata" has been dominated by the lati.f\1ndia Sup-ar Economy of su~ar cane. Production based on extensive family ~ landho1din~s and 1arp'e masses of cheap hand labor has characterized the su~ar economy since early colonial times. As 10n~ as the external (export) demand for su~ar was expandin~, the su~ar economy prospered, absorbin~ manpower and land at constant or inereas n~ productivity levels. The impulse for ~ro th, hich the economy of the humid strip once received from 8u~ar exports, has, however, now lon~ since been exhausted althou~h today the Northeast still produces almost 40% of Brazilos su~ar (See Annex 6). Dependent upon costly ~overnmental subsidies for its continued exist- enoe, the su~ar economy is now unable to absorb the population increases of the re~ion. Because the income from su~ar production is small, and concentrated main­ ly in the hands of the owners, the wa~es ~enerated by su~ar have been insufficient to ensure a market for ~eneral consumption ~oods.