AGRICULTURA FAMILIAR, DESENVOLVIMENTO SUSTENTÁVEL E A PRODUÇÃO DE ALIMENTOS NA AMAZÔNIA (MUNICÍPIO DE ARAME, MARANHÃO, BRASIL)

Abstract

This study deals with socioeconomic issues with respect to sovereignty, food security intertwined with sustainable development in food production and its implications for the management of production processes in land use and marketing of family´s products farming origin, through the channels of private and public institutional distribution. In this perspective, the production of agricultural food in the Amazonian environment requires a direct relationship with the innovation and technologies used in the production process to meet local and regional demands. In this context, the general objective of this work was to analyze food production in the Legal Amazon, based on a study carried out in the Municipality of Arame (MA, Brazil). The Case Study methodological strategy was adopted with a qualitative, quantitative approach using interviews and field research forms applied to family farmers, the subject of the research. The data were analyzed considering the systemic complexity of reality. To this end, three research scenarios were contextualized, the first was on the Food Acquisition Program (PAA) in which 16 farmers were interviewed in their production units, 75% of them are located in the Village of Cajazeiras, the other 25% are in an exclusively rural area. The second was to analyze the production of water flour and income aggregation for small and family farmers, 7 (seven) units (flour houses) were visited, located in rural areas. The third was to analyze the logistical process of distributing products of family farming origin, identifying the distribution channels and their main obstacles of logistical infrastructure, for the production flow. We tried to understand the trajectories and conceptions of family farmers about their experiences of practices and production management, the forms of interaction in the market, the relationship established between families and institutional purchases, especially the mode of purchase with simultaneous donation (CDS), evaluating the monetary and non-monetary economic gains arising from the relationship practices of the offerers (family producers) and demanders (public and private institutions) in the private and governmental markets, as well as the main obstacles to the flow of production faced by most farmers were identified, such as: the poor traffic conditions of the state and municipal roads, especially in the rainy season, which has reduced deliveries, and in a way the profit margin of farmers.