Former Embrapa farm will be officially handed over to the MST

More than 600 hectares of highly suitable agricultural land from an Embrapa experimental model farm, in Ponta Grossa, will definitively pass into the hands of the Landless Movement (MST) next Saturday (16).

The PT government is preparing a party to mark the transformation of the “Emiliano Zapata peasant community” into an official agrarian reform settlement. The former Embrapa farm was invaded by 160 families in May 2003, at the beginning of Lula’s first term. Shortly after the invasion, Incra reached an agreement with Embrapa so that the area could be used to temporarily accommodate MST militants who were on the side of highways.

What was provisional, however, became definitive. In an arrangement within the federal government, the 633.25 hectare area ended up being sold by Embrapa to Incra two years later, for R$5.45 million, in agrarian debt securities (TDAs).

Farm could be worth R$50 million today

According to the land price map from the Paraná Department of Agriculture, this same area would currently be worth between R$40 and R$50 million (2023 data).

The property may have an additional value as it is located just 20 km from the urban perimeter of Ponta Grossa, on the Talco highway, close to Parque do Botuquara. An Embrapa researcher from another state commented on the Gazeta do Povo report: “It’s Embrapa handing over areas for free, and, on the other hand, asking Parliament for a budget. The same could end up happening on other farms of the institution. They are rewarding the invaders”.

The announcement of the inauguration party for the new settlement confirmed the presence of the Minister of Development and Social Assistance and Combating Hunger, Wellington Dias, who is expected to participate in a community lunch, animated by music from the groups Solidum and Gaita Fandangueira.

In April last year, landless people invaded another Embrapa research unit, in Pernambuco. The invaders left the space after two days. The invasion was classified as a mistake by the movement’s leader, João Pedro Stédile, in a statement to the MST’s CPI. He, however, justified the action as a way of “drawing public attention”.