Características estruturais das unidades agropecuárias do nordeste semi-árido do Brasil

Abstract

The main goal of this study is to characterize

structurally the farms of Northeast Brazil semi-arid backlands (sertão), by levels of economic rates of return. The basic data provided by the Bank Of Northeast Brazil (SUDENE/BIRD farm survey), and a comparative analysis is performed on farm resource structures, cost and revenue compositions, product-factor and factor-factor coefficient estimates. The level of specialization of farms into four basic agricultural branches is also examined, in order to determine which of them may be considered as profitable undertakings. The main conclusions arrived in th ié study are: | l. The large farms are not the most profitable ones (with exceptcion of the highest rate of return leval). The level of profitability tend to increase as production unit decreases. 2. As the regional level of farm modernization is low, there is almost no difference on relative (and even absolute) factor mixes among different reútability levels. This same aspect is noticed with relation to production units cost structure, suggesting that farms seem to make use of similar productive processes, still based upon two tradicionnal factors of production (land and labor). The factor intensity and density coefficients obtained also demonstrate that the conventional technologies, in the semi-arid backlands of Northeast Brazil, are quite the same! among the different farm profitability levels 3. Total Gross Production goes up with return levels, over all agricultural branches. The obvions conclusion is that the highest the total gross Production, the most relatively profitable are the farms. Besides, the same farms decrease their basic food and animal productions and tend to produce industrial raw-materials (cotton) when profitability levels increase. 4. The production of industrial raw-materials shows up to be the most profitable undertaking, in the dry northeast backlands. On the other hand, cattle breeding and basic food productioon are the least profitable activities, under neoclassical assumptions. Vegetable and fruit production has little significance in those dry areas. 5. Considering wage-labor as a possible indicator of the capitalistc processs of production, farms appear to become more capitalistc as long as they get to be more protitable ones. On the other hand, family labor has still the largest weight as manpower, in those semiarid backlands. These information sets suggest two general models for the interpretation of "sertão" agriculture. - peasant family farms - and late capitalism farms. 6. Only 1/4 farms seems to attain satisfactory rates of rreturn, i. e., may be considered as profitable undertaking. This aspects is confirmed bu the pure economic profit obtained by farms, which shows positive results only in the two highest rate of return levels.