A new area in dispute: the producer of irrigated rice and the new regulatory institutions about the use and property of water in southern extreme of Brazil

Abstract

The 1988 Constitution brought about significant changes in the Brazilian legislation, particularly those related to the property rights on rural estates. Besides that, substantial changes were introduced in relation to the usage of natural resources, as it is the case of water, raised to the common welfare category, as having a finite character and provided with economic value. For this account, important limitations were imposed to the private property, which only now begin to be embodied into the imaginary of social actors involved in productive processes which act in the sector of production systems. These changes have engendered a necessity for new institutional ties as well as invariable adaptations considered as a resistance on the part of the gaucho agrarian bourgeoisie. This is precisely the case of rice producers, who are considered as one of the sectors imposing a new dynamics on the socio-productive relationships from the process of modernization since the second half of the XX century, achieving an expressive expansion of the cultivated areas, rice production and productivity, as well as of the hydric consumption required for this culture. This paper analyzes these questions based on a case study performed in the municipality of Santa Vitoria do Palmar, the extreme gaucho south.