SEMAPA discusses the agricultural land market in the semiarid northeastern region in a seminar

Students on the public policy course look to Professor Fábio Fonseca Figueiredo as a tireless seeker of good topics for discussion and debate. Coordinator of the Society, Environment and Development research group, Figueiredo, spares no effort in presenting themes that are always relevant and important for the formation of a refined critical awareness among course students and curious people in general.
His effort was praised by the head of the department, professor Alexsandro Ferreira, who opened the seminar “Agricultural land markets in the northeastern semi-arid region” and welcomed the afternoon speaker, professor of the economics department, Rogério Cruz, a doctor in economic development and enthusiast of everything related to the economy of Rio Grande do Sul.
His participation began with a report about his research group that studied the impacts of the construction of the Armando Ribeiro Gonçalves dam in the Açu valley, addressing aspects such as land speculation, land policy, irrigated fruit growing, moving towards the issue of the land market, which according to the professor, began in 1850 and has placed land as a valuable financial asset in current times.
For Cruz, capitalism has had a special predilection for acquiring land, demonstrating to the speaker that this investment is safe and that it is obtaining the best gains today. In this sense, he narrated the emergence of this market, with references to indigenous lands, sesmarias, possessions, private property, merchandise, until the land became an asset that generates wealth, going so far as to state that “the problem in the semi-arid region is not the drought, it is the fence”.
Citing authors he used in his work, Rogério criticized Brazilian public policies at all levels and answered more specific questions about the issue of land in the Açu valley under the impact of the construction of the Armando Ribeiro dam, which, in his assessment, was harmful to the land issue.
Website cited: www.gestaodeterras.com.br.
The Prof. Dr. Rogério Cruz from the economics department was the speaker at the seminar “Agricultural land market in the semi-arid northeast”. Photo Flávio Rezende.