Around 600 members of the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) have occupied, since early Sunday morning (16), a farm belonging to the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa), located in Petrolina (PE).
Linked to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, the public company claims that the property has been used for decades to carry out experiments that seek to make the seeds and seedlings of plants grown in the Cerrado more resistant, increasing the productivity of these products.
“The action surprised us. It seems incoherent to us, since, locally, we develop products and technologies that benefit family farming and semi-arid producers”, he declared to Brazil Agency the head of Research and Development at Embrapa Semiarid, Anderson Oliveira, revealing that the company’s legal department has already asked the Court to vacate and repossess the land.
According to Oliveira, the property in question has around 500 hectares, of which the landless are occupying around 46 hectares (each hectare corresponds approximately to the measurements of an official soccer field). Also according to the manager, in addition to ample space for planting species used in research, there is also an area used for the production of fodder with which technicians complement the feeding of the herd of cattle, sheep and goats raised on the site.
“It is a support area. And there is also another area of preservation and legal conservation of the biome, in which we do not produce anything, but we study the native species and their interactions”, explained Oliveira, adding that, in the space occupied by the landless, preparations are being carried out for the traditional Semiarid Show, an exhibition scheduled for August that should attract around 20,000 people from all over the Northeast.
“We took pictures that show that part of the vegetation in the preservation area has already been suppressed and that the landless people are moving towards the fodder production area for the herd. We have already taken some actions with the Justice, but I hope that the leaders of the movement become aware and vacate the place, as this action could compromise the fauna and flora, including endangered animals, and also research on the sustainable use of the biome,” added Oliveira.
Challenge
The MST classifies the farm as a “vacant area”, that is, public land to which the Government has not appropriately allocated and which, therefore, should be destined for agrarian reform and the settlement of landless people.
MST leader in Pernambuco, Paulo Sérgio told the Brazil Agency that the landless do not intend to leave the area, that they defend that it should be used to settle the families. “We challenge Embrapa to prove that, in recent years, some family farmer has benefited from development projects or any type of local research carried out by the company, which has been working at the service of agribusiness”, criticized Sérgio.
“About six years ago, this area was dedicated to research and extension, but since then, the area has been overgrown with weeds. Anyone who comes here will see that. It is enough to arrive at the main access to the area where we are camped to confirm this”, added the landless man.
The head of Research and Development himself, Anderson Oliveira, recognizes that, in recent years, budget difficulties forced Embrapa to interrupt some research and postpone new projects, but he insisted that the property fulfills its social function. “We faced a very difficult period, in which we did not have the necessary resources to develop all the research we would like. For this reason, perhaps, the landless people who were used to our work are even surprised by the lack of some apparent physical structures, but we continue to develop cutting-edge, important work on the spot”.
Yesterday (17), the Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, Carlos Favaro, used his personal Twitter account to criticize the MST action. Fávaro, who is linked to agriculture and livestock and was vice-governor of Mato Grosso, classified the initiative as “unacceptable”.
“I have always defended that the vocational worker has the right to land. But to the land that is rightfully his! Embrapa, about to complete 50 years, is one of the greatest assets of our country. The agro produces sustainably; relies on research and all the development work promoted by Embrapa. Attempting to do so is far from being an occupation, struggle or demonstration. Attacking science, against sustainable production is a crime and a crime proper to denialists,” wrote Fávaro.
Journey
The occupation of the Embrapa Semiarid farm by members of the MST was not an isolated act. According to the movement itself, the action is part of the 26th National Day of Struggle for Land and Agrarian Reform, which takes place across the country, with “massive mobilizations” in at least 18 states.
In Pernambuco alone, the MST claims to have occupied nine properties since the last 3rd. Seven of these occupations took place this weekend, in the cities of Timbaúba, Jaboatão dos Guararapes, Tacaimbó, Caruaru, Glória do Goitá, Goiana, as well as Petrolina.
In addition to rural properties and public lands, the landless also occupy offices of the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (Incra) in at least 12 federative units (Maranhão, Rio Grande do Norte, Ceará, Sergipe, Paraíba, Mato Grosso, Santa Catarina, Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and the Federal District).
According to the MST, occupations, marches, vigils, camps and other actions in defense of agrarian reform will continue to take place in a coordinated manner until at least next Thursday (20). In addition to criticizing the concentration of Brazilian land in the hands of a few people and companies, the journey rescues, annually, the memory of the 21 landless rural workers murdered by military police, on April 17, 1996, in Eldorado dos Carajás (PA) , in the episode that became known as Massacre of Eldorado dos Carajás.
