The construction of the Belo Monte dam in the Brazilian Amazon and its consequences on regional rural labor

Abstract

The article analyzes the impacts of the Belo Monte dam construction on the rural labor mobility dynamics and the effects on the agropastoral activities, in the rural areas of the Altamira region, Pará state, in the Brazilian Amazon. The study is based on longitudinal data organized as a panel survey applied to fixed sample of 402 rural properties for each survey in the years of 1997/98, 2005 and 2015. The construction of Belo Monte dam produced a demographic boom in Altamira, with the urban population almost doubled during the construction period between 2011 and 2014. The increased demand for food in Altamira’s markets was expected to boost production in the local agropastoral economy. However, the supply of jobs during the dam construction to work in the dam or in the new jobs in the urban area led to an exodus of rural workers, causing a shortage of labor in rural areas and an increase in labor costs of the agricultural activities. This scenario has accelerated the trend of productive specialization of agricultural commodities (i.e., beef and cocoa) instead of strengthening the local agricultural production to supply the local markets with vegetables and staple crops. Labor shortage in rural areas was the main driver of changes in the local agricultural activities and the impacts were more evident among the households with lower purchasing power and less market integration. The study shows that the impacts of large dams on the agricultural sector tend to vary according to the degree of consolidation of the productive activities and the market conditions of the products associated to these activities at the time the changes occur (i.e., the period of the dam construction). The study shows that the promises made that the dam would lead to regional economic development were not delivered, and that the agricultural sector if anything declined in its food production capacity. Governments and dam builders should either not promise, or make better plans and policy making to ensure that these goals are achieved.