Global IssuesGLOBAL CRISIS SOWS PROBLEMS FOR AGRICULTURE
Although the pace of capital investment in agricultural has slowed, there has been an intensification of the appropriation of natural resources that are still available. Recent years have seen a noticeable capitalist offensive to buy up more areas with biodiversity, mineral reserves, and sources of water and energy, writes Joao Pedro Stedile, an economist and a member of the Movement of the Landless (MST) and of Via Campesina International.
In this analysis, Stedile writes that Brazil and many countries in Asia and Africa are victims of the greed of international capital that has decided to hibernate there during the crisis to reconstitute itself for a new cycle of accumulation.
The resources that governments had previously dedicated to social assistance for farmers -health care, education, transportation, and technical assistance- are being redirected to save the capitalists.
The capitalists want to produce dollars and profits. The peasant farmers want to produce healthy foods and well-being. Disputes arise whenever the two groups meet. The future, though, is on the side of the peasant farmers, and against the plunderers of nature and the exploiters of people.
(*) Joao Pedro Stedile is an economist and a member of the Movement of the Landless (MST) and of Via Campesina International.
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