Abstract

BOLTVINIK, Julio. Towards a theory of farming poverty. Pap. poblac [online]. 2007, vol.13, n.54, pp.23-38. ISSN 2448-7147.

Rural poverty, particularly peasant, is determined by the agriculture seasonality and by the fact that, in capitalism, prices incorporate (as costs) only the salaries of the working days effectively paid. Because of that, the farmer must look for additional income outside their arable land. This central thesis explains the agricultural subsidies in developed countries as a social acknowledgement to a minimum life level, without having to degrade their status renting temporarily their workforce, which means that seasonality's social cost is taken by society. When this right is not recognized, the farmers are condemned to permanent poverty. It is concluded that the adequate policy for the developing countries, if they want to overcome rural poverty, consists in subsidize their countrymen and protect them from the external prices, such as developed countries do.

Keywords : rural poverty; workforce; salary; agricultural subsidies.