Potencialidades e limitações da agricultura familiar no Sul de Minas Gerais: um diagnóstico fundamentado na abordagem interpretativa

Abstract

The objective of this study was to identify the objects of orientation that have, for the head of family farms, professionals of agro sciences and town authorities, the meaning of favorable or limiting factors to the development of familiar agriculture in the south region of Minas Gerais with relation to data collection, the technique ´focused interview´ was used. The interviewee were selected by the non- probabilistic method of sampling by judgment, where eleven familiar farm leaders, twelve professionals of agro sciences and twelve town authorities. The favorable factors were classified according to their nature and grouped in the ´edafoclimático´ factor infra- structure and place, social, cultural and sustainable alternative categories. On the regard of the classification of the limiting factors, it was done according to the level in which the factor was, i.e., either with the producer, the region or outside the region. The results also showed that the process pf orientation isn´t linear, as the interviewee established multiple connections among the different situational objects. These connections highlighted that the taking advantage of the favorable factors and the reduction of the impacts of the limiting factors involve interdisciplinary notion, by representing dimensions that involve different areas of knowledge. In addition, it was observed that the development of family agriculture in the south of Minas Gerais is linked either to structural factors as to secondary factors, what justify the use of the theory of social action as theoretical support for this work.