CRUZ DAS almas: a BRAZILIAN VILLAGE — PIERSON 



73 



Esiimated cost of growing potatoes — Continued 



Cruzeiros 



per 



tareja 



For the second plowing 25 



For tlie second liarrowing 5 



To list the furrows for planting 5 



For seed potatoes 120 



For a sack of fertilizer (60 kilos) 120 



To plant the potatoes 25 



To hoe and pull dirt up around the young plants 25 



To dig and sack 8 sacks of potatoes ( normal yield) — 50 



Total 555 



The farmer then stated that eight sacks of po- 

 tatoes at the current price of 60 to 70 cruzeiros per 

 sack would bring a return of from 480 to 560 

 cruzeiros per tarefa, or a loss of 75 cruzeiros to a 

 gain of 5 cruzeiros on the undertaking. 



In evaluating these data, it should be borne in 

 mind that the farmer has listed 150 cruzeiros for 

 clearing and burning, a cost not necessary on land 

 already in production. In addition, he has 

 charged for his own work, as well as for fertilizer 

 which, as has been indicated, is rarely used. On 

 the other hand, one should also allow for the fact 

 that the vicissitudes of the weather, the malefi- 

 cent action of pests, and the fluctuations of the 

 market may cut both yield and price. 



The vicissitudes of the weather, which obviously 

 constitute an ever-present hazard in agricultural 

 operations the world over, add to the farmer's 

 perplexities and sense of frustration although, if 

 he were not troubled by other problems, he proba- 

 bly would accept without grumbling these diffi- 

 culties of a natural order, as an anticipated part 

 of his occupational hazard. 



"In 1940," said a middle-aged man, "farming 

 cost me 15,000 mitreis ($825) and from that time 

 on, I began to lose my taste for it ! That year I 

 had planted onions, cotton, and potatoes. Some- 

 thing happened to the onions ; I don't know what 

 it was. The tops grew to be about 30 cm. (12 

 inches) high and then they fell over and the onions 

 split open and I lost them all. Worms ate up the 

 cotton plants, and just when my potatoes were 

 growing nicely, there came a terrific hailstorm 

 and I lost the whole crop, as well as the money 

 I'd paid out for seed." "Farming is fine and I like 

 it a lot," said a farm boy 15 years old, "but lately 

 things haven't gone so well. After the onions 

 were planted, it rained a lot. They grew too fast 

 and now they're mostly tops. The poor farmer is 



going to get left. He's been thinking he'd have 

 a nice crop and while it was growing he has been 

 eating on credit and now he won't be able to pay 

 what he owes." 



In the midst of these problems and frustrations, 

 the farmer feels ill-treated, especially in compari- 

 son with labor in the cities, news of whose recent 

 gains is beginning to reach the community. A 

 constant complaint heard among farmers is ndo 

 temos garantia (we have no guarantee). "The 

 government helps the worker in the factory," com- 

 plained a farmer, "but the farmer is completely 

 forgotten. If the factory worker gets sick or 

 breaks a leg, he has protection and everything. 

 But the farmer has nothing like this." "The 

 farmer doesn't have a single guarantee," said a 

 farm boj', 17 years old. "Everyone takes advan- 

 tage of him." "This year the buyers are paying 5 

 cruzeiros for a sack of cabbage," complained an- 

 other farm boy. "Wlty, it costs nearly that much 

 to buy the sack itself ! It's the farmer who takes 

 all the losses. If some guarantee isn't given him 

 pretty soon, you will see more and more people 

 leaving the farm." "Everything is different from 

 what it used to be," said a villager. "The farm- 

 ers feel they are without protection. The govern- 

 ment should get rid of those tuharoes ^^^ there in 

 the city, all that long line of intermediaries." 



As the shift to cattle raising increases, farmers 

 who plant complain of competition with the men 

 who raise cattle. "Another thing that is bad for 

 farming," remarked a farmer, "is cattle raising. 

 You have to fence your land or the cattle will get 

 into the fields. But with the prices of wire and 

 fence posts what they are, you can't afford to do it. 

 Cattle raising is going to put the man who plants 

 out of business." "The law requires a man who 

 has cattle to fence his pasture," complained an- 

 other farmer, "but he usually manages to get the 

 farmer to pay half the expenses. The man with 

 cattle is also required by law to pay damages when 

 the stock get through the fence and destroy a 

 farmer's crop. But he may get a friend to ap- 

 praise the damage, and anyway, no one knows 

 what to charge for a crop that hasn't been grown 

 yet, so the farmer usually gets the worst of the 

 deal. I have noticed that shortly after the man 

 with cattle comes, the farmer leaves." "The men 

 who raise cattle close off large pieces of land," said 



■ Literally sharks ; slang expression tor "profiteers.* 



