s that were, and still are to some extent, economically backwards. At this time in the late 1980's, domestic companies were rather small and family-owned and lacked the financial and technical resources needed to invest in a burgeoning industrial base (Becker, 156). Thus, the Brazilian government actively pursued foreign investments which were required so that the economy could fall in line with modernization.
             With the advent of the 1990's, these private companies virtually dominated all commercial and agricultural areas, such as those that produced paper products, furniture and certain food products, while the multinational entities dominated the production of automobiles, drugs, plastics and machinery. As to foreign investments, the United States and Japan were the largest sources and continue to be so even today. Of course, Brazil's output in the petroleum sector was controlled by the government which also contributed to a huge increase in the output of the mining and steel industries.
             In regard to the Brazilian agricultural sector, in 1986, almost 30% of the country's land area was used for farming; crops made up about 31% of the land use, while the remainder was used for pasture and livestock. Also at this time, 25% of the labor force in Brazil was employed in agriculture which accounted for about 10% of the country's gross domestic product. Of this number of workers, being some 15 million persons, more than half owned the land on which they worked; 10% were sharecroppers and the remainder were tenant farmers and common laborers. However, due to a lack of sufficient financial return, a good number of these farmers also worked
             as laborers which was exacerbated by the unequal distribution of farm acreage among the middle and lower Brazilian classes. In 1989, 52% of the farms were made up of less than 25 acres with only 1% owning more than 2,500 acres. Geographically, "farms in the central weste...