Income and access to infrastructure in rural households in northeast Brazil

Abstract

The increase of the contingent of rural residents engaged in non-agricultural activities is a reality throughout the Brazilian territory. In the Northeast region this increase has as its epicenter the natural-historical-structural issues that make life difficult in the region and make families look for non-agricultural activities in order to obtain higher incomes. However, analyzing the effect of these activities only from the income aspect can generate an incomplete understanding. In this sense, the objective of the study was to analyze to which extent the income from pluriactive and non-agricultural activities in the northeastern rural space materializes in improvements in household infrastructure. To conduct the research, we used the microdata from the National Household Sample Survey (PNAD), from 2002 to 2015.The results showed that pluriactive and non-agricultural activities, when compared to agricultural activities, presented higher incomes and greater capacity to amplify the effects of public infrastructure policies in rural areas. This configuration was observed even in the most problematic indicators, such as basic sanitation.