Privileges to agribusiness and marginalization of family farming: An analysis of rural credit policy in light of constitutional principles

Abstract

This study analyzes Brazilian agri-food policy from a legal-constitutional perspective, with particular emphasis on the structural disparities in rural credit access between agribusiness and family farming. It argues that the Planos Safra (Annual Agricultural Plans) systematically favor agribusiness elites by disproportionately allocating public resources to large-scale producers, to the detriment of family farmers,who are chiefly responsible for domestic food supply. This asymmetry reflects the persistence of historical privileges granted to rural dominant classes and constitutes a violation of constitutional principles such as substantive equality, the reduction of social and regional inequalities, and food sovereignty,the latter inferred from the economic order provisions (Articles 3, III; 5; 170; and 186 of the 1988 Brazilian Constitution). Given this context, it is concluded that it is essential to reassess support policies in order to promote the genuine democratization of access to credit and to acknowledge the importance of productive diversity.