Os impactos do cultivo da cana-de-açúcar sobre o cultivo de alimentos em Itaberaí (GO)

Abstract

Sugarcane production in Brazil is currently a reflection of an incentive that was crucial to boosting the Brazilian sugarcane sector: Proalcool (National Sugarcane Program) Alcohol). This program was created in 1975 with the aim of diversifying the matrix Brazilian energy in the face of the global oil crisis, until then its main source energy. After Proalcool, sugar cane cultivation spread throughout Brazil, initially arriving with intensity in the southeast and northeast of the country, then spreading for the South and Midwest. This new agricultural modality, very profitable and competitive in the market has provoked controversies about its sustainability and its capacity to unbalance the production of other foods, such as rice and beans, the basic food of Brazilian. In the state of Goiás, sugar cane has been concentrated in the southern and central portions of the state, with several plants in operation or in the implementation phase. The work is objective to analyze whether sugarcane cultivation has replaced agricultural production of food in Itaberaí (GO), mainly rice and beans. The methodological principles consisted of collecting previous information about the area, field visit, interview with workers in sugar cane fields, agricultural producers and the president of the Rural Workers Union of Itaberaí (GO). In the municipality of Itaberaí (GO) data statistics from IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) and Seplan (Secretariat of Planning of the State of Goiás) point out sharp drops in production and planted area of rice and beans in the period from 2000 to 2009, while production and area planted with sugarcane sugar prices rose a lot in the same period in the municipality. This expansion of agriculture sugarcane cultivation in the municipality has occurred, for now, on medium and large properties in the agribusiness, but has affected food production. Many agribusiness properties in the municipality of Itaberaí (GO) stopped producing food, such as rice and beans, due to example, to cultivate sugar cane, mainly in the land leasing system. lands. Sugarcane cultivation is more profitable and less labor intensive than other crops food, these are some of the reasons that have led agricultural producers in Itaberaí (GO) to migrate to this new agricultural modality. As a result, the decline in rice production and beans increases, associated with the fact that small farmers have practically left of producing these two foods due to the disadvantages in the cost-benefit ratio.