While new official figures are hard to come by, one leading analyst says that 10% of the largest farmers still hold about 85% of the land.
For 25 years, the landless movement in Brazil, spearheaded by a social movement known as the MST, has carried out a wide range of protests, including what it calls land occupations.
In the most notorious incident, 19 people were shot dead by police.
There are also tensions between the landless movement and the government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who has been a long-term supporter of the MST.
His government turned down a proposal to settle one million people, and adopted instead a counter-proposal of 450,000,.
Settlers granted the right to stay by the government
Brazil's government says more than one million families have been settled
"In the first year [of his presidency] he didn't keep to his plan, and in the middle of his first term he gave up. In the second term he hasn't even raised the issue," he tells the BBC News website.
