GEO Brasil - UNEP

the Northeast In 1998, average farm
confirmed through the analysis of
sizes in the Northeast was 791 ha,
average farm sizes According to
Data catalogued by INCRA indicates
that approximately 29 million and 36
million of rural estates were distributed
on an absolute basis among the five
Brazilian regions in 1992 and 1998, as
shown in Table 5 The analysis of these
two periods shows that most of the
land estates in Brazil are concentrated
in the South – 3553 percent in 1992
and 3157 percent in 1998 These estates
are always the smallest portion of the
total registered area Farms have an
whereas the average in the Southeast
was 702 ha Unequal land distribution
among the regions is even more
noticeable in medium-sized holdings
Half of the farms in the Southeast have
up to 19 ha, whereas medium farms in
the Northeast are smaller than 16 ha
More than half of the catalogued area
in the country is located in the North
and Central West Nevertheless, the
quantity of real estate, even when
considered jointly is inexpressive in
comparison to any other region in
Brazil As a consequence, the average
farm size in both regions is over 400 ha
and medium-sized holdings have
approximately 70 ha
Taking the previous periods into
Hoffmann 1 “ there was a 3 percent
decrease from 1093 ha in 1972 to 106
ha in 1992 The national median area
fell slightly from 187 to 185 ha The
Gini index remains slightly above 083
The percentage of total area occupied
by 10 percent of large agricultural
holdings varies between 77 percent and
78 percent”
Table 4 demonstrates the previously
mentioned stability during the period
1972/1998 Besides the Gini index, the
Theil index was used to measure
concentration Still according to
Hoffmann, one of the reasons for this
stability in land tenure is the impressive
extension of the Brazilian territory This
reduces the effectiveness of
government distribution schemes
the state of the environment in Brazil
average area of 38 ha, and half of them
are not larger than 14 hectares
consideration, the dynamics of change
concerning the catalogued data may
be evaluated In Brazil, landholdings
22
Land holdings, area and
Gross Production Value
The number of farms was similar in
the previously mentioned periods both
increased by 227 percent in number
and 34 percent in size However,
In Brazil, there are 4,859,864 holdings
occupying an area of 3536 milllion
in the Northeast and Southeast
considerable stability may be observed
hectares In the agricultural period of
However, this is not true for catalogued
in the Brazilian land tenure system
95/96, Gross Production Value (GPV)
areas, which are more concentrated in
between 1972 and 1998 This was
was R$ 478 billion Total financing was
1
Hoffmann, Rodolfo Land Tenure in Brazil according to data from INCRA
INCRA/UNICAMP Agreement
55