ABSTRACT
Brazil is a country rich in land and other resources. It has the world’s fifth largest land area and a population of over 190 million people, 84.4 percent of whom live in urban areas (IBGE 2011). Once called the “land of contrasts” (Bastide 1957), the country is one of the world’s most socio-economically unequal. Poverty is especially prevalent in rural areas. According to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), 51 percent of Brazil’s rural population lives on less than two dollars a day, while the national average is 35 percent (IFAD 2010). Recent data (IPEA 2014) show that in 2012 extreme poverty was more common among rural households (9.3%) than urban (2.6%).
