A reestruturação da agricultura cearense: notas sobre a alteração das condições de reprodução do pequeno campesinato

Abstract

Since the 1950s, agricultural structures in the State of Ceará have undergone profound changes, including both the growth of small farms on the one hand and the development of indirect or precarious occupation of land on the other. One consequence of this restructuring has been the impoverishment of small farmers, who have faced increasing difficulty in access to land, which in turn has aggravated the conditions for the social reproduction of this social sector. Based on data from the Brazilian Census Bureau (IBGE), the article describes these changes before attempting to identify two types of factors that have helped increase pressure on the land market: the mercantilization of farming land, causing small farmers to be forced off the land, and the first phase of a demographic transition involving decreased mortality.

Keywords

• social reproduction
• small farmers
• demographic transition