O Mercado Convencional da Banana: sujeição da agricultura familiar no Vale do Ribeira-SP

Abstract

The municipalities of Vale do Ribeira have the lowest rates of human development in the state of São Paulo. The main productive activity of the territory, banana farming, has a significant effect on the indicator that evaluates the generation of income in these municipalities. In this context, the article aims to emphasize the understanding of the so-called “conventional banana market”, trying to demonstrate how as the performance of intermediary agents in this market imposes limits on the generation of income in family agriculture. For this, six managers of producer organizations and 38 banana producers from the municipalities of Miracatu and Sete Barras. The presence of local individual intermediates and large wholesale companies was identified. It was found that wholesale companies have the economic power to influence and determine the prices paid to the producer, which in general is considered low because it significantly restricts the profitability of the farmers interviewed. In addition, it should be noted that local intermediaries established relationships with producers that created other disadvantages, notably default. It is concluded that the commercialization of bananas in the conventional market by means of intermediates inhibits possibilities of economic development of these farmers and, consequently, of the whole territory of the Vale do Ribeira dependent on the commercialization of these fruits.