A persistência da cultura do tabaco na agricultura familiar: um estudo sobre a Colônia Sesmaria – 4º Distrito de São Lourenço do Sul - RS

Abstract

The study discusses the motivation for the persistence of family farmers in tobacco growing in the locality of Sesmaria - 4th district of São Lourenço do Sul - RS. The municipality has been highlighting in the production of this crop that in 2014, according to IBGE data, occupied the second position in the State. Even though it is a controversial culture of many n negative effects to health, it moves the world economy and is based on an industrial complex structured within an integrated system that found in Brazilian fields, especially in the southern Brazil, fertile areas to reach its capitalist purposes. The objective is to understand the reasons for the expansion of this crop even faced with the framework convention for tobacco control, of which Brazil is a signatory, and also of government incentives such as PRONAF that can help in the diversification of activities. It is a case study of qualitative character that seeks through the semi-structured interviews the answers that can confirm or refute the hypotheses that guide the research. For this purpose, farmers who have been engaged in tobacco cultivation for at least 10 years are interviewed.The results indicate to several factors that justify the persistence of these farmers in the production of tobacco, highlighting the guarantee in the commercialization, promoted by the integrated system of multinationals, which is not available in other cultures. Encouraged by the desire to live in the countryside, these family farmers found propitious conditions to their maintenance and a great ermanence attraction. Undoubtedly, its future, as well as being linked to national interests, from the moment that the result of this production generates high taxes, is, above all, attached to interests that exceed Brazilian borders, that is, the interests of the multinationals tobacco industry.