Agricultura familiar e estratégias de reprodução Socioeconômica das famílias rurais de São Miguel – RN

Abstract

Despite the significant participation of family farming in national production, in the semiarid region of Northeast family farms still features traditional characteristics, being unable to generate sufficient income for socioeconomic reproduction of families in this region. In that context, the aim of this work is to analyze the different mechanisms used by family farmers in order to reproduce socially and economically in rural areas from São Miguel – RN. The study was carried out through existent bibliography on the subject and by means of primary data from a field research accomplished with 66 families from the countryside of São Miguel-RN. Amongst the main results of the study it was identified that, in addition to the income from agricultural activity, the sources of income of rural households were varied: incomes from non-agricultural activities, from government assistance programs such as Bolsa Família, from rural welfare benefits and from other sources as support from relatives who live in other localities. In relation to agricultural activity, the study showed that the annual average of the gross farming income from the families under study was only R$ 2,129.62 and it was verified that 24.24% of families developed pluriactive activities. It was found that more than half (56%) of non-pluriactive households obtained incomes from rural pensions. The Bolsa Família Program was present in 57.6% of the families surveyed, and 75% of pluriactive families received income from that program. The participation of non-agricultural incomes and income transfers accounted for 74.73% of total income obtained by rural households under study in the municipality. Agriculture, despite being the main occupation, present in all families, participates with only 21.65% of total income. It was concluded that family farming developed the municipality of São Miguel is considered precarious. The predominance of smallholdings, the absence of technical assistance, the low prices of agricultural products, the lack of future perspective to agricultural activity, the inexistence of associationism/cooperativism and the constant deadlocks caused by droughts were some of the main problems that could be identified in family farms of that municipality. In that aspect, the non-agricultural incomes and the income transfers work as crucial factors to ensure the socioeconomic reproduction of the households surveyed, providing the necessary conditions for them to continue living in the countryside of São Miguel-RN.