Landless
As landless are farmers , farm families and farm workers called who do not own land have, but exclusively on leased working country. In the German-speaking area, this mainly concerned the heuerling system into the 20th century .
Situation in South America
The term is particularly relevant to the campesinos (farm workers) in South America , where much of the land is in the hands of large landowners . In the last few decades - mostly supported by the Catholic Church - numerous landless movements have emerged, pushing for land reforms to be carried out. Their growing influence on elections and state social policy is offset by illegal actions such as land occupation and political assassinations on both sides.
The numerically largest group of landless people is that in Brazil , where, despite the promises of the center-left government under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva , 4.6 million farming families are still without land, while 50% of the agricultural area is owned by 26,000 large landowners. Many of the landless become impoverished because of increasing debts for the purchase of seeds and machines and finally migrate to the slums of the big cities.
