Senator Patricia Bullrich, leader of ruling party La Libertad Avanza’s (LLA) bloc, announced on Wednesday a series of changes to a land reform bill set to be debated on Thursday in the upper house.
While the original proposal was set to eliminate current restrictions on the sale of productive rural land to foreign individuals and foreign-owned companies, the modified bill will increase the current ownership cap from 15% to 25% per district.
Bullrich acknowledged that the 25% cap was requested by allied lawmakers and said the government accepted it because it seemed “reasonable” and because Brazil has the same limit.
“We set the limit at 25% because that’s the percentage Brazil uses. Uruguay, Chile, Paraguay, and Mexico have no such limit. It was agreed upon with our allies, and over the past 30 years Brazil has increased its agricultural productive capacity fourfold compared with us,” she explained in a press conference.
Presenting the amendments to the land bill, Bullrich said she wanted to “dispel fears” that they are going to take over the “water and natural resources.”
