A contribuição da produção de morango para a produção social dos(as) agricultores(as) da microrregião de Cerro Largo

Abstract

The IBGE micro-region of Cerro Largo is located in the northwestern part of the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its essentially agricultural economy originated in the late 19th century, where non-Iberian European immigrants from the former colonies followed a production Subsistence food. With this, as colonies established in the region, their productive matrix of subsistence. This lasted until the 1960s and 1970s, when many farmers, motivated by large government subsidies, adhered to the technological package of the green revolution and the focus of agriculture to that marked by grain production. However, the subsidies for the new product model weakened when in the 1990s the state adhered to neoliberalism. Family farmers, with few technological inputs and no state aid, are looking for new income-generating alternatives, such as milk, vegetable and fruit production. In fruit growing, strawberry cultivation, with high added value and conditions to generate agricultural income to reach the level of social reproduction in small areas, has become an alternative. However, it is necessary to evaluate the economic and social aspects of strawberry production. For this, the present work uses a "theory of agrarian systems". After analyzing strawberry production data provided by the Technical Assistance and Rural Extension Company - Emater / RS, farmers were interviewed and four types were defined: strawberry and honey, strawberry, soybean and milk, strawberry, milk, citrus fruits and bosses' eggs - Strawberry and legumes. Through the economic calculation of each type, or pollution. Thus, this study demonstrated that the strawberry subsystem plays an important role in the composition of agricultural yield and is necessary to achieve the required level of social reproduction.