O Programa Bolsa Família e dinâmica migratória rural-urbana: o caso do município de Bagre/Pará

Abstract

The main objective of this case study is to verify if there is a relationship between the implementation of the Bolsa Família Program (PBF) and the migration from rural to urban areas in the municipality of Bagre, Pará State, Brazil. The PSF is a public policy aimed at minimizing misery, having an intersectoral focus and national scope, characterized by direct income transfer to the beneficiaries, who must fulfill certain obligations related to education and health. The municipality is located in one of the less developed regions of Pará state, and its population is heavily dependent on government income transfer programs. In Bagre, the PBF serves about 90% of families enrolled in the CadÚnico, the federal government register containing personal identification and socio economic features of lowincome families in Brazil. Several aspects of the PBF have been analyzed, but few studies refer to the effects of the program in fields other than those related to its explicit objectives. Only two more specific references to the impact of PBF on migration movements were found in the literature. This study was carried out with a mixed, qualitative and quantitative approach, adopting the sequential explanatory strategy. A field research was carried out in two stages. The first one conducted a structured interview with a random sample of immigrant beneficiary families living in the urban area of the municipality who previously lived in rural areas. The sample selection was systematic and stratified. The second stage conducted semi-structured interviews with selected families from the same sample. The research has identified the profile of the immigrant beneficiaries, the reasons for migration and their perception of living conditions in the urban area. The study concludes that the PBF promoted in Bagre the access of a significant portion of the population to a minimum income and basic services, which are the explicit objectives of the program. Furthermore, the migratory movement from rural to urban areas has increased due to the implementation of PBF. This was caused by the expectation of income guarantee and incorporation into the urban labor market raised among the beneficiaries, which has allowed them to meet their desire to migrate existing before entering the program or arising from the need to meet the requirements imposed by the obligations of the program. Although in the perception of the immigrant beneficiaries of the BFM the change of residence to urban areas has led to improvements in their living conditions, the housing and infrastructure conditions are still very precarious, which poses new challenges to the local management.