Brazil agriculture minister wants to open indigenous land to commercial farming

www.reuters.com... CN1PC25P

Brazil should open indigenous land to commercial farming, Agriculture Minister Tereza Cristina Dias said on Friday...Farmers form a key base of support for right-wing firebrand Bolsonaro who since taking office Jan. 1 has placed pro-agribusiness policies at the center of his agenda. Activists warn his government’s positions would strip away protections for the environment, the Amazon rainforest and indigenous peoples.

Reservation land covering roughly 12 percent of Brazil’s territory is currently off limits for commercial farming.

“They could plant there ... and maybe have income for their community,” Dias told reporters. “They cannot do this today. That needs to be changed in Congress.”

more food is good, right?
a chance for income for the indigenous?
or exploitation of same?
sometimes the world is a complicated place.

Brazil is 8.5 million square kilometers. twelve percent of that would be, what, 160,000 km2? have to think they can spare some of that.

a reply to: ElGoobero

12% was rightfully allotted as reservation land. But never mind nobody cares about the environment and loss of natural habitats. But once the forests are gone the soil will erode and the place will become a desert, good luck farming that.

The short sighted selfish pricks.

They are already stealing native folks lands actually, she just wants the green light from everyone else.

That way, the world looks the other way.

Brazilian expropriation and exploitation of the forests and the extermination of the "in-the-way" natives is an ongoing process. Is this just an attempt to speed it up? I think so. Apart from the terrible environmental devastation, this is one of histories genocides.

a reply to: ElGoobero

more food is good, right?

They'll more likely be farming palm oil , more profit than farming food.

a chance for income for the indigenous?

Loss of their land more like , more commodities equals less habitat for the people , flora and fauna of the area.

Bad move.

ps : page not found at link.

originally posted by: gortex
a reply to: ElGoobero

more food is good, right?

They'll more likely be farming palm oil , more profit than farming food.

a chance for income for the indigenous?

Loss of their land more like , more commodities equals less habitat for the people , flora and fauna of the area.

Bad move.

ps : page not found at link.

went back on Reuters site, couldn't find
there are several articles about Brazil agriculture; they are having a Soy boom, and Cargill wants a palm oil plant.
guess farming down there is a big deal these days.

I think this is it
www.reuters.com... CN1PC25P



www.reuters.com... CN1PC25P


for some reason the system is cutting off the last part of the link. google news search for 'Brazil Indigenous' and it'll show

www1.folha.uol.com.br...

related article

It's a controversial topic because the department move transferred all the responsibility of identifying, delimiting and demarcating land portion to indigenous tribes to government officials linked to agribusiness interests.

The secretariat of land affairs, a newly created agency with the Ministry of Agriculture, is led by Nabhan Garcia, former leader of an association of rural landowners.

Garcia says that the department will "impartially review" all indigenous lands boundaries set in the last ten years, and the government can nullify land grants to indigenous peoples if it finds any flaws in the grant procedures.

so management of Brazil' indigenous peoples goes from the equivalent of the Interior Department, to the Agriculture Department, who naturally will want to expand the farming sector.
don't know all the local implications and details but that does sound a bit worrisome.