A agricultura familiar e políticas públicas como instrumentos para o desenvolvimento local: o cultivo do abacaxi no município de Conceição do Araguaia-PA

Abstract

Pineapple is a tropical native plant of the Amazon region. Hence, the southeast region of Pará is highly benefited by horticulture as it features favorable clime and soil conditions for pineapple cultivation, plenty of labour and low production costs. As it is a region with an immense area for settlements, which has still been in its early stages of structuring with low levels of income to the settlers and still precarious development conditions, it is important and urgent for the entire southeastern Pará that alternatives of investments and direction of public policies aimed at structuring the chain production of pineapple are considered and hence promote local development. This piece of work, meeting the immediate needs of the producers and managers, shows the pineapple culture as an important alternative for family farming, benefiting a great deal communities of small farmers in the southeastern Pará. It aims at evaluating the performance of public policies on pineapple production, showing the roles assigned to each public entity involved in this activity and their actual performance. Looking into bibliographic data and information through on site questionnaires, interviews and observations, it has been concluded that it is advantageous to exploit pineapple in the southeast settlement areas of Para, taking advantage of the familiar structure generating both employment and income, since it does not require large areas of cultivation or huge technology investments. The role of public policy flaws on several points listed throughout the work, which has made it difficult and hindered local development. Defying the odds, small producers keep on struggling and increasing the production of each crop, putting the city in the second place in the national production of pineapple.