SURVIVING IN RONDONIA - THE DYNAMICS OF COLONIST FARMING STRATEGIES IN BRAZIL NORTHWEST FRONTIER

The modernization of Brazilian agriculture beginning in the mid-1960s led to the massive out-migration of family farmers from Brazil's traditional ''farm-belt'' in the subtropical South. The tropical forestlands of the Northwest frontier (Rondonia) were opened through a government program, POLONOROESTE, to absorb this displaced agrarian population. The results of this land settlement program have been disappointing. Agricultural production in Rondonia, emphasizing low-yield annual cropping and casual cattle ranching, has been accompanied by high rates of deforestation. Colonists migrating to Brazil's Northwest frontier confront numerous obstacles to establishing and maintaining a viable farm. This article explores how colonists adapt to the changing factors of farm production. These factors occur at three levels: environmental, institutional/structural, and household level. Based on colonist household surveys, three principal and overlapping farming strategies were observed and their financial performance evaluated: annual cropping-only, coffee production, and cattle ranching. Three case studies are presented that illustrate how these strategies change over the short-term in ways that tend to favor temporary land uses.