Agronegócio e injustiça ambiental na Chapada do Apodi(CE): a convivência precária com o Semiárido na fronteira do capital

Abstract

In Chapada do Apodi, in the state of Ceará, the expansion of agribusiness has reconfigured the agrarian issue in the region, giving rise to processes of environmental injustice. At the same time, movements of resistance to the development model advocated by agribusiness are articulated. This process is verified in the portion of Chapada do Apodi circumscribed to the municipality of Tabuleiro do Norte, where the expansion of grain agribusiness occurs, with emphasis on cotton through the action of the company Nova Agro Agropecuária LTDA. In this perspective, in spaces where capital is territorialized makes it possible to observe that conflicts are more visible and intense, confronting rationales that are often divergent and/or exclusive. In the research section, where peasants live distributed in ten communities, it is possible to verify the coexistence with the Semiarid being directly affected by the territorialization of the capital, making it more precarious. In this way, the objective is to understand the limitations imposed by environmental injustice on coexistence with the Semiarid region in Chapada do Apodi, in the municipality of Tabuleiro do Norte. The specific objectives are: 1) to characterize the territories of coexistence with the Semiarid in Chapada do Apodi; 2) investigate the scenario of environmental injustice, in view of the actions of the State and agribusiness; 3) highlight the resistance strategies that make living with the semi-arid region possible. The research is of a qualitative nature, whose methodological procedures are organized in four stages: 1) survey and bibliographic review; 2) secondary data collection; 3) field works; 4) systematization and data analysis. From the investigation, it was found that agribusiness has deepened the processes of environmental injustice, disproportionately imposing the harm of this economic activity on peasants. Relying on the support of the State, the impacts produced by agribusiness, such as deforestation, destruction of social technologies, bad smell due to the application of pesticides and possible death of bees, among others, have led to limitations in living in the semiarid region. However, peasants, relying on a support network, have produced resistance against the advance of capital, supporting the permanence of life in the territory.