|
|
Article: Brazil: ethanol production: impacts on rural workers and land reform.(AGROENERGY AND ALTERNATIVES)
- Article from:
- Pacific Ecologist
- Article date:
- June 22, 2009
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 Pacific Institute of Resource Management. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Brazil is the largest sugarcane ethanol producer in the world and production is based on exploiting cheap, migrant labour, even slave labour. Increased ethanol production has pushed small farmers from their lands, prevented land reform and generated unemployment and dependency on temporary work in the 'sugar cane economy, where exploitation has caused serious health problems and workers' deaths. Monopoly of land by large landowners prevents other economic sectors developing.
Brazil's sugar cane sector was the agribusiness which grew most in 2005. In 2006 over 425 million tons of sugar cane was produced on six million hectares of land. For 2007, the Ministry of ...