Alarming Results of Land Use and Quality of Rural Life in Paraguay

According to the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (National Institute of Statistics) or INE, has shown in the year of 2020 that extreme poverty in Paraguay is predominantly located in the rural area affecting a 7,4% of the total population of the country, also the illiteracy in these areas rates a 9.4% of the Paraguayan population.

If we analyze Paraguay and the results and the findings presented by the INE, it’s inevitable that the entire country faces various deficiencies. However, the rural area is a step forward. Paraguay experiences a degree of land concentration with the total of 85% of the land owned by the 2% of the rural population. Additionally, the country has a high degree of land concentration produced by a high rate of deforestation as a result of monoculture crops [1].

Over the years this population had to migrate to the urban areas due to the lack of accessibility to public policies, technology and invested opportunities to family farmers, meanwhile corporate agriculture benefits from incentives. The majority of them do not willingly choose to migrate, rather, they are left with few alternatives.

In the last 10 years almost 900.000 of the population have relocated to the outskirts of big cities such as Asuncion, this mass displacement was not only looking for better possibilities but also due to armed conflicts. Moving to another city does not help them due to most of them now living in marginalized areas. Paraguay exhibits a high level of economic dynamism as a result of the income from the generation of electrical energy as well as the export of soybeans and meat. However, in rural areas one in three people were living in poverty in 2020. Despite the high economic performance, Paraguay was the only country in Latin America where income inequality increased in 2013, according to OXFAM’s report in 2016. Efforts must be made to improve the living conditions and opportunities for the rural population, ensuring sustainable and inclusive development for all Paraguayans [2].

The results shown by the research conducted by the INE are alarming, the country is heading towards a situation where most of the rural workers have no hope to live a decent life in the rural area. There must be a new analysis of the policies that are designated to family agriculture, that way the country should establish better ways of sustaining the population and assuring their access to all that was mentioned before. It is extremely important to develop and maintain differentiated public policies for small producers and rural residents. These policies should aim to combat extremely rural poverty, to expand basic services, improve the healthcare system and strengthen food security and sovereignty.

1. EPHC (2021) Principales Resultados de Pobreza Monetaria y Distribución de Ingresos. Instituto Nacional de Estadí
2. Guereña A, Rojas L (2016) Yvy Jára: Los dueños de la tierra en Paraguay. Oxfam, Paraguay, Asunción, South America.