Land reform goals to be fulfilled

Shriley Prestes

Reporter Agência Brasil

Porto Alegre - With less than a month to go to the end of the year, minister of Agrarian Development, Miguel Rossetto, says that the government will meet its land reform settlement goals for this year. The National Land Reform Plan target is to turn 115,000 landless rural worker families into property owners by December 31.Without citing specific numbers for this year, Rossetto said that since 2003, when it took office, the Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva administration has settled over 200,000 families.

The president of the Land Reform Institute (Incra), Rolf Hackbart, also said that this year's target would be met. "We are doing very well. Every day we give people land. We will present a report in the first week of January," he said.

This year there were a series of demonstartions in favor of land reform, its funding and the fulfillment of targets. In May there was a National March for Land Reform which brought 12,000 people to Brasilia, organized by the Landless Rural Worker Movement (MST).

Translation: Allen Bennett