Commodities production in family farming: analysis of institutional determinants in northern mato grosso

Abstract

Promoting rural development is a challenge for public policies that may be promising or ineffective, it involves dealing with diverse realities and concepts in rural areas. By involving family farming the problem become complex because of the broad possibilities in arrangement of productive units. This work aimed to analyze which mechanisms allow family farmers to integrate soybean production in Mato Grosso, challenging the actual paradigm. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was used to elaborate the index of technological and productive adhesion in family farming (IIAF). The results demonstrated that to develop soybean production, family farmers contract harvesting services that reduce their need for long-term investment and credit agreements with tradings that provide short-term financial needs. Even tough institutional innovation contributes to family’s income, it does not change the technological paradigm based in economies of scale, therefore, restricting the entrance of family farmers that do not possess capital, technology, and adaption to the supply chain requisites.