Agricultural Credit and the Build-Up of Social Capital in the Brazilian Amazon Frontier

Abstract

"This paper is organized into four sections: first, I present an overview of the social capital literature, with some emphasis on interactions with credit programs and institutions. Next, I will discuss some aspects related to credit policies in the Brazilian Amazon and more specifically in the State of Pará, through the perspective of its institutional dynamics and, into some extent, as a process arising from its regional socioeconomic and political backgrounds. This part builds heavily on a FNO analysis recently published. Third, I want to present shortly some preliminary results of our on-going agricultural credit research in the region, with emphasis given to the impact of rural credit in Land Use - Land Cover Change (LUCC) and in agricultural production, and discuss briefly those results in light of what they represent for regional development. Forth, I will discuss the build-up of social capital in Amazonia, its effect in the performance of rural credit and the interactions with the physical environment and with diverse sectors of society."