The MST wants Lula to accelerate land reform

Their 180-kilometre (112-mile) march to Brasilia is in support of plans to settle one million landless families over the next four years.

It comes as the government is drafting a national land reform programme which is due to be presented to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The marchers are expected to meet him when they arrive on 20 November.

Tense relations

Lula's Workers' Party, which leads the governing coalition, has always had a close relationship with the Landless Movement (MST).

However, the MST has recently been invading farms and imposing blockades to try to force the government to adhere to its election promises of land reform.

The president of the Workers' Party, Jose Genoino, spoke to the workers as they set off and promised that he would arrange a meeting with Lula for them.

Jose Valdir Miesnerovicz, of the MST's national leadership, told the BBC that a national land reform plan was needed to resolve Brazil's "historic problems" of concentration of land ownership, unemployment and poverty.

He said the MST march was not intended as a protest against Lula's government, and added that he hoped the movement could help the government implement its plan.

Correspondents say land distribution in Brazil is among the most uneven in the world, with 20% of the population owning 90% of farmland and the poorest 40% owning just 1% of the land.

Rural boost

In another initiative aimed at improving life in rural Brazil, Lula has launched a $2.5bn government programme, Light For All, aimed at providing electricity for several million families in remote areas.

Three-quarters of the money will be provided by the federal government, the rest by state authorities.

The programme will run until 2008 and mainly benefit poor Brazilians.

Earlier this year, the president initiated his Zero Hunger plan, which is also aimed at improving living conditions for the poorest Brazilians.