Rousseff promises efforts to settle landless families in irrigation projects
During a meeting with 30 representatives of the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST), at Palácio do Planalto on Thursday (Feb. 13), President Dilma Rousseff asked the Agrarian Development and National Integration ministers to consider settling landless families in irrigation projects in the Northeast.
After the meeting, the Minister for Agrarian Development, Pepe Vargas, said the president also wants to extend eligibility for the National Technical Education and Employment Program to families settled under the Agrarian Reform.
While he acknowledged the count of about 100,000 encamped families reported by MST, he noted that the government's target is to settle between 30,000 and 35,000; however, he said this number could be higher if families could be placed in existing irrigation projects.
In a letter handed to Rousseff, the MST has asked the government to fulfill its promise of prioritizing settlement of families in irrigation projects in the Northeast. According to activists, there are over 80,000 vacant lots with water and facilities available for peasant families.
The activists were also promised ongoing dialogue for negotiating on other calls covered in the letter, including an urge for “profound changes” in the way the National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform operates, whether by hiring qualified staff, stepping up resources for the National Program for Education in Agrarian Reform and issuing more expropriation orders.
The MST claims that in recent years, the number of settlements on expropriated land has been around 13,000 families a year, the lowest average since the military dictatorship was overthrown. The government reports 75,000 families settled in three years – not only in expropriated estates.
"No agrarian reform is possible without land expropriation,” said Alexandre Conceição, from the MST's National Coordination Body.
Translated by Mayra Borges
Fonte: Rousseff promises efforts to settle landless families in irrigation projects
