In Brazil, one of the biggest challenges for the sustainable growth of agribusiness is the lack of legal certainty about rural ownership in the capacity of owner. With 41% of the national territory occupied by rural areas, the country faces serious obstacles in formalizing land ownership. Although the agricultural business represents around 25% of Brazil’s GDP, thousands of rural properties remain informal, which hinders investments and access to credit.
According to the IBGE, about 351 million hectares are located in rural areas, but many of these properties still lack official registration, making formal transactions impossible and restricting access to credit lines and support programs.
Land regularization, which consists of formalizing the ownership title an complying legal requirements, is an essential measure to ensure legal certainty and unlock the economic potential of Brazilian lands.
The lack of integration between the various public registries and a unified registration system is a factor that makes it difficult to establish the precise location of properties. The result is the overlapping of areas and the generation of conflicts. This situation, in addition to harming the regularization of properties, creates an environment conducive to land grabbing and irregular occupations, which continue to be a reality in several regions of the country.
Another impediment relevant is georeferencing – mandatory for rural properties with properties greater than 25 hectares. Although this requirement aims avoiding the overlap of areas and ensuring the correct delimitation of properties, it is an expensive process, often neglected, and that slows down the regularization process, leaving owners without the necessary legal certainty to access financing, sell or expand their business dealings.
The benefits of regularization, therefore, go beyond legal compliance. Regularized properties are essential for attracting investments, increasing the market value of land, and ensuring access to government programs to support the agricultural business, such as the National Land Credit Program (Programa Nacional de Crédito Fundiário).
In addition, regularization is a crucial step to foster sustainability in the field, by enabling compliance with environmental and tax obligations.
It is estimated that the regularization of real estate properties can contribute to a substantial increase in the added value of rural properties, in addition to facilitate access to financing and new markets. For this, a joint effort between the public sector and the private sector is needed.
The simplification of bureaucratic processes, the creation of an efficient digital registration system, and the incentive to the implementation of georeferencing are essential measures to ensure that land regularization becomes a reality in Brazil. With these measures, the country would solve a historical problem and open doors to a new cycle of growth in the countryside.
Investing in land regularization is more than a legal obligation: it is a smart strategy to maximize the economic potential of rural properties and consolidate Brazil as a comprehensive leader in agribusiness.
