Agricultura familiar no município de Queimadas, PB: forma de organização, desafios e perspectivas.

Abstract

Family farming is an activity which is growing mainly in developed countries and this growth can be attributed to various (actors amongst which is the increasing demand for food, the continuous technological innovations and also the action of the government which tries to increase the production by offering incentives to the fanner, seeing it as an important activity in the formation of salaries. The level of organization and cooperation among the European family farmers should be emphazised. In Brazil this activity starts small, disorganized and marginalized in relation to the large monocuHural farms. Agricultural modernization doesn't change this situation, it's the big producer who keeps on getting the benefits offered by the government. In the Northeast region not only are the properties very small but they also suffer from drought typical of the semi-arid region, The agriculture in the district of Queimadas, Fb is characterized by a large concentration of farms where family farming is responsible for almost all the production of subexistence. The huge urban populational growth compared to the rural dieserves special enphasis. Regarding field work, greater part of the active work force - 69% - is in farms ofless than 5 acres. According to the data taken from research conducted in the fields, with a sample of 50 fanners, there is a low level of education not only among the owners but also their wives and children. Due to the drought which affected the region in 1999, the income from agriculture was almost zero while the income from cattle growing was more significant. A big part of the family income has a non-agricultural origin, either in non agricultural activities or from benefits given by social security as also the help of children in some cases. We observed that the viability of family farming depends on the coexistence of nonagricultural activities and the benefits of social security. In relation to sustainability we saw that the techniques used were damaging the environment and from the socio-ecomnomic view the huge number of families in small farms together with the low level of education hasn't helped the families maintain themselves and thus forcing their children to migrate.