PAA em Assentamentos Rurais: Novos Modos de Vida?

Abstract

Based on the concept of development as liberty, development is a process that involves, fundamentally, people's agent condition, allowing them to be beneficiary and judges of the progress, but also, direct or indirectly, all the production primary means. Analyzing this issue, the author points out the risks coming from this double role – of agents and means of development performed by people – in situations of planning and formulation of policies aimed only at the progress in production and economical prosperity. We also consider the importance and place of these two objectives which should be intermediary and subordinated to the favoring of human life. In this sense, this research aims to reflect, based on the capability approach, on the dynamics propelled by the Food Acquisition Program – FAP (PAA) in agrarian reform settlers who have been benefited by the FAP and that also have assumed that double role- is FAP (PAA) a policy that promotes social change in terms of enrichment of human life? Certainly, we will not cover all questions, and this is not our pretension, but we aim to highlight aspects of FAP which may bring smaller and/or larger capacities to this social group and freedom to choose its way of life. Keywords: Rural Settlements, FAP (PAA), Development, Capacities.