Analise econômica e comercialização da produção dos pequenos proprietários rurais do município de Nova Resende, Estado de Minas Gerais

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to determine and to analyse the production cost structure of small landowners in the município of Nova Resende, state of Minas Gerais, seeking to identify the relationships between returns from production and market channels. The data are from the Integrated Rural Development ProjectMC-II, "Programa Estadual de Promoção de Pequenos Proprietários Ru rais de Minas Gerais", and concern to the 1980/81 agricultural year. The selected products were corn, beans and rice; this choice was based on frequency of cultivation. The results have shown that among small landowners those with less amount of land presented higher factor productivity. Costs of production were high, being labor the most expensive item for variable costs; as for fixed costs, land and buildings were those with the highest participation. Incomes obtained from the three products were sufficient í to cover only average variable costs, except for strata I and II of rice. This fact seems to indicate that if the same results are obtained over the years, those producers will have to give up their activities. Incomes were higher than average operating costs, except for the stratum I and II from the rice producers"* group, pointing to the existence of positive residuals. This result may explain the reason for small landowners' permanence in agricultural activities even without economic advantages. The break-even-points found for the three products were he following: corn, 94.65 sacks per property; beans, 11.31 sacks per property; and rice, 338.34 sacks per property. This fact shows tihat producers obtained a better economic result with bean produçtion because with this product 40% of the producers reached the break-even-point agaisnt 23.91% for corn producers. For rice, no np of the small producers reached that point. Most of the production were directed to self-consumption as bellings reached the following percentages for the products stu dLed: corn (12.80%), beans (31.42%), and rice (0.25%). The main buyers were wholesalers, retailers, movable purchasers, and neigh bbrs and ali sellings were accomplished in the property. The re sults suggest a positive relationship between market and small landowners' incomes: they obtained better economic result from those products with the highest percentage of trade and the greatest number of producers participating on the sellings.