Landless Workers Movement (MST)

Brazil’s Landless Workers' Movement (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra, or MST) is at the forefront of social action for just land distribution. The MST works with peasants to identify and settle on underutilized land, gain legal title to the land and bring it into productive use. Through the MST's efforts over the last two decades, over 370,000 families have been settled and tens of thousands more are living in encampments, awaiting title to their land.

By focusing on voluntary cooperative use of the land, the MST is helping to confront the social decay that has plagued Brazilian society while addressing the scarcity of resources available to the rural poor. Settlements have established elementary and junior high schools attended by over 150,000 pupils. Settlement activity has created 900,000 new jobs in the area of agriculture alone, with at least as many related jobs created in nearby cities. Social indicators, from infant mortality to school attendance, are generally dramatically better in MST settlements than in the rest of rural Brazil.

The MST offers immediate benefits to their constituency – arable land and agricultural training to landless farmers – just as they advocate nationally and internationally for structural improvements to land, education and health policies.

Grassroots works with the MST at state and national levels through sustainable agriculture, training and legal assistance projects. In the states of Pernambuco and Maranhão, Grassroots supports the development of sustainable agriculture practices by settled farmers for the production of healthy foods for families and surrounding urban communities. At national level, Grassroots supports the training of the next generation of organizers through workshops and learning exchanges, as well as legal support in cases related to the political and economic rights of landless peasants.