The Northeast region of Brazil has long been the single largest pocket of rural poverty in Latin America. With a combined area of 1.6 million square kilometers-16 percent of Brazil's total-the Northeast is home to 45 million people, 28 percent of Brazil's total population , of whom 5.4 million people live on about a day and a total of 10.7 million on .60 or less per day. Nearly half of all rural communities are in the interior, semi-arid zone characterized by poor soil and severe, frequent drought. The rural poor are small farmers, tenants, sharecroppers and landless laborers. They face an uncertain climate and fluctuating markets. Their access to land is skewed and there is almost no rural financial system for their needs. They rely on subsistence cropping of basic foods, smallscale animal husbandry, some cash crops (mainly cotton and cashew), casual agricultural and non-agricultural work, pensions, and remittances from family members living in the cities.