Brazil cracks down on foreigners owning land

Brazil's government is planning to tighten restrictions on foreign ownership of agricultural farmland in the country due to a crackdown over food security issues, the Agrarian Development Ministry has announced...

Those who have already bought land and large rural properties in Latin America's biggest country, by creating Brazilian companies, face title deeds being revoked under the new measures.

The restrictions, which are currently being drawn up, will sit under the new official policy that foreigners should not be allowed to buy any agricultural land.

Ministry spokeswoman Denise Mantovani said, "We do not need foreigners to produce food in Brazil," Cassel told the business newspaper Valor Economico.

"This is the policy of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva."

"Because of food security, Brazilian lands must remain in Brazilian hands," the minister said.

Mantovani said that 10 million acres of land had been registered by foreigners as of 2008 and that between 2002 and 2008, foreigners invested $2.43 billion to buy land.
 
She also confirmed that the decision to restrict foreign ownership of land is due to rising world demand for food, water and natural resources.

Mantovani said that current law says large rural properties can only be purchased by Brazilian citizens or residents.

"But foreigners often bypass that rule by setting up companies in Brazil, which are controlled abroad, to purchase land. This is a foreign company and this is what we want to control."

"I am not a xenophobe but our land is finite. The population grows and demands food," the minister said.

Mantovani said that representatives from several ministries were preparing a constitutional amendment to further restrict foreign ownership of land. Most foreigners purchase land to raise cattle and grow soybeans and other crops in the states of Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Sao Paulo, Bahia and Minas Gerais.

"We are going to draw up an amendment that will make it clear that foreigners can invest in any field, except land," the minister said.

It is unclear when the amendment will be debated in Congress.

Picture by asterico