Soy veredas: smallholder farmer strategies on the margins of the agrarian frontier in Western Bahia, Brazil

MSc Thesis submitted for the completion of the International Development Studies program of Wageningen University. Abstract: The MATOPIBA is a region in Northeastern Brazil, known as one of the most important agrarian frontiers of the country in recent decades. The region is marked by the coexistence of different faring systems, with its plateaus occupied by highly capitalized plantations while traditional smallholder farmers continue to live in the lowlands of the plateaus and the valleys around them. That makes it a privileged context to study the impacts of agricultural modernization, its impacts on the environment and other farming systems and alternative development trajectories that could be available.While there are numerous studies analysing the economic and territorial expansion of industrial agriculture in the MATOPIBA and its social, environmental and economic effects, there is still need for more studies on the strategies and practices of smallholder farmers situated on the margins of these industrial farms. Therefore, this research focuses on smallholder farming on the margins of the agrarian frontier in Western Bahia, making use of a combination of historical context analysis, interviews, and field observations conducted during two months of fieldwork in 2022, focusing specially on the Corrente river basin. It shows the evolution of traditional peasant faring systems in the region since the start of the 20th century, emphasizing the impacts that the occupation of the plateaus of the region with industrial plantations had on them, showing different strategies and differentiation strategies.The conclusions point toward the substantial impact of land and particularly water grabbing on smallholder farming systems, which are differently affected in different regions and parts of the landscape. Field observations and analysis of data from the state government support numerous studies that point out the use of environmental registries as tools to illegally claim land, often from public areas used by smallholder farmers. Nevertheless, different strategies contribute to reproduction of smallholder farming systems. Traditional free-range cattle production in natural areas - safeguarded by local associations - increases the resilience of livestock production, investments such as pumps and wells can counter water scarcity, and new practices such as market gardening change the usual amount of land necessary to earn a living in the region. The work contributes to the broader discussion on rural development and the future of small-scale farming in regions dominated by industrial agriculture, suggesting the importance of processes of locally led change for the continuity of smallholder farming under changing conditions, as well as the real consideration of the needs of a diversity of farmers in land and water governance for improved local livelihoods and environmental conservation.