WHAT IS REALLY NEW IN THE BRAZILIAN RURAL AREA

Abstract

This paper presents the main achievements of phases I and II of a thematic project named "Rurbano Project: Characterization of the Brazilian New Rural Sector, 1981/99", which aims at analyzing the main transformations occurring in the urban - rural relations in 11 Brazilian States. The research began in 1996 and currently is in its phase III. The phase I basically covered the types of occupation of rural residents and the phase II analyzed the income of agricultural multiple activities and non-agricultural families residing in rural areas. According to estimates, the number of rural workers and families devoted exclusively to agricultural activities has decreased rapidly, accompanied by an increase in the number of non-farming rural workers and families, that is, units where no members are engaged in agricultural activities. There was also a rapid increase in the number of rural families with unemployed and retired members. We also discuss the dynamics of occupation and income generation in the Brazilian rural areas and, finally, we propose groups of public policies that could improve the rural development, considering the new functions observed in the Brazilian rural areas. Key words: multiple activities, rural and agricultural occupations, non-agricultural activities, rural income, rural development policy.