Smallholders in the Caatinga and the Cerrado: A Baseline Analysis for a Rural Just Transition in Brazil

This report by the Climate Policy Initiative and PUC-Rio provides a baseline analysis of smallholders in Brazil's Caatinga and Cerrado biomes to inform a 'rural just transition.' It highlights the socioeconomic vulnerabilities of small-scale farmers, the disparities in productivity and resource access between the two biomes, and the need for tailored policies that integrate social dimensions with climate mitigation to ensure that the transition to sustainable agriculture does not exacerbate existing inequalities.

• Brazil's agricultural sector is characterized by extreme land concentration, where approximately 4% of farms control 63% of the farmland, while 65% of rural establishments hold only 9% of the land. This creates a duality between highly capitalized commercial industries in the South, Southeast, and Midwest and less productive subsistence farms primarily in the North and Northeast.
• Smallholders represent 76.8% of all agricultural establishments in Brazil but occupy only 23% of the cropland. They are highly vulnerable to climate change due to limited access to climate-smart technologies and public resources, as most rural credit is directed toward medium and large producers.
• There are significant productivity and economic disparities between smallholders in the Caatinga and Cerrado biomes. Smallholders in the Cerrado have larger average farms (36.2 hectares vs 14.3 hectares in the Caatinga) and produce nearly twice the total value of agricultural production compared to those in the Caatinga.
• Smallholders in the Caatinga face extreme water scarcity and higher poverty levels than those in the Cerrado. In the Caatinga, 72% of producers rely on cisterns as their main water source, and the poverty rate is 22.8%, significantly higher than the national average of 6.6%.
• Gender and racial disparities are evident in land ownership and income. Black smallholders run 71% of smallholdings in the Caatinga and 54% in the Cerrado, but they typically manage smaller farms. Women-led farms also occupy a smaller share of the total area (15% in the Caatinga and 12% in the Cerrado) than their share of total smallholdings.
• Technical assistance and education are major bottlenecks for adopting sustainable practices. Only 8% of smallholders in the Caatinga and 16.8% in the Cerrado receive technical assistance. Furthermore, over 50% of smallholders in the Caatinga are illiterate, and 28% in the Cerrado are illiterate.
• A significant portion of smallholders operate in subsistence farming, particularly in the Caatinga where 68.3% produce for own consumption. In contrast, 43.5% of smallholders in the Cerrado do so. This is linked to high poverty, with 67.2% of the population in the Caatinga and 40.2% in the Cerrado living on less than half a minimum wage.

APA

Climate Policy Initiative (2023). Smallholders in the Caatinga and the Cerrado: A Baseline Analysis for a Rural Just Transition in Brazil. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/smallholders-in-the-caatinga-and-the-cerrado-a-baseline-analysis-for-a-rural-just-transition-in-brazil/

Chicago

Climate Policy Initiative. Smallholders in the Caatinga and the Cerrado: A Baseline Analysis for a Rural Just Transition in Brazil. 2023. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/smallholders-in-the-caatinga-and-the-cerrado-a-baseline-analysis-for-a-rural-just-transition-in-brazil/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate Policy Initiative |title=Smallholders in the Caatinga and the Cerrado: A Baseline Analysis for a Rural Just Transition in Brazil |date=13 February 2023 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/smallholders-in-the-caatinga-and-the-cerrado-a-baseline-analysis-for-a-rural-just-transition-in-brazil/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climatepolicyinitiative2023smallholders, author = {{Climate Policy Initiative}}, title = {{Smallholders in the Caatinga and the Cerrado: A Baseline Analysis for a Rural Just Transition in Brazil}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2023}, month = feb, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/smallholders-in-the-caatinga-and-the-cerrado-a-baseline-analysis-for-a-rural-just-transition-in-brazil/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }