Políticas Públicas e o Processo de Luta/Conquista da Terra no Assentamento Palmares, Região do Bico do Papagaio/Tocantins

Abstract

This research describes and analyzes the importance of public policies in the process of struggle and conquest of land, through the initial formation of camps by landless rural workers, and later, the consolidation in rural settlements, with a spatial focus in the state of Tocantins, mainly, focusing on Bico do Papagaio, a region in the extreme north of the State, formed by 25 municipalities and bathed by the Araguaia and Tocantins rivers. It is noteworthy that in the process of conquering land, the peasants of Bico do Papagaio/TO act in different fighting strategies, the main ones being involvement and effective participation in struggles against the oppressive capitalist structure. Given the context, the objective of this research was to analyze the process of struggle and conquest of territory in the Bico do Papagaio region, Tocantins, highlighting the process from the formation of camps to the consolidation/implementation of rural settlements, in addition to identifying social actors and the institutions involved, as well as public policies aimed at agrarian reform. In the meantime, the following methodological procedures were adopted: bibliographic and documentary research; collection of primary data, through interviews with peasant leaders and secondary data in public bodies, such as the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (INCRA), in addition to the stages of application of the Participatory Rural Diagnosis (DRP) with families and peasant leaders from the Palmares settlement, Bico do Papagaio/TO. The results show that the lack of access to public policies hinders the resistance of peasants in the camps and, consequently, of rural settlements, and this has been causing several problems, such as the weakening of the struggle for land, farmers leaving the countryside, violence in the countryside and experiencing precarious forms of subsistence. This need for access to public policies was observed, in situ, in the Palmares settlement, when the settlers reported the poor condition of the local roads, the difficulty in accessing drinking water, the lack of opportunities to sell their products, as well as the reach of Technical Assistance and Rural Extension (ATER) there is still a gap between technical assistance and that of settled families. The State needs to include peasants in access to public policies, since many settlements in the region have been producing food, such as Palmares, thus guaranteeing its maintenance and resisting pressure from capitalist agriculture. It is necessary and urgent that the fight for land through camps organized through social movements, specifically the MST, as a popular mobilization strategy that, even facing the state apparatus against agrarian reform, is seen as a space for reconquering the territory .