O agronegócio da pecuária de corte em Araguaína (TO): territorialidade e representação simbólica

Abstract

The Livestock farming is one of the primary activities held throughout the world by the more traditional economy. In Brazil, it has been practiced since the arrival of the Portuguese and has passed by several stages until the present moment. In a not too distant past, it was an extremely important activity for the conquest and occupation of the territory, because of this, since the 60's it have been greatly fomented by the federal government, especially in the region of Legal Amazon. Thus, in the current context in which agribusiness has consolidated itself as a major economic force in Brazil due to the support gave by the State, the strong capital invested and the entire media apparatus, the livestock farming receives an even bigger turnaround because Brazil has become the world's largest beef producer. As a result, many Brazilian municipalities have livestock farming as their main economic activity, in this case, the municipality of Araguaína located in the northern region of the state of Tocantins has the beef cattle herding as its most important agribusiness activity since the 80s, in function of this, is now considered the capital of the fat ox. From then on, the beef cattle ranch exerts a strong empowerment to the detriment of other agribusiness activities performed in Araguaína. The municipality counts throughout its territory with 1050 rural properties that to a lesser or greater degree exert the livestock activity, in addition to a great number of rural properties in the neighboring municipalities that compose its micro-region. In this perspective, the objective of this work is to analyze the process of territorialization of the agribusiness of the beef cattle in the municipality of Araguaína from the symbolic power attributed to the ox, as well as the speeches of the cattle breeder elite and the rural syndicate representatives. It is relevant to emphasize the importance of the State for the growth process of agribusiness activities, as well as the public policies implemented by the State for the various actors involved in this activity, as well as the care for the environment since livestock farming has been an activity of great impact to the nature in its development process. Despite the process of beef cattle development in the municipality, it is partly due to the action of the rural syndicate and to the role of the cattle breeder elite, who in many cases have a strong connection with the acting politicians, thus facilitating the claims, and consequently the growth of this category. The approach of this work translates through the qualitative research, were followed 04 meetings of transfers of the rural syndicate to its associates with information to obtain better results for every category. Thus, was applied a questionnaire with closed and open alternatives to a retinue that participated of the cavalcade in June of 2018, in order to know how the retinue is formed, their treatment with the animals and the importance of the party for them. It was also applied questionnaires to 07 livestock farmers during the cavalcade, the survey was to determine if they were affiliated to the syndicate, the importance of livestock, the care for the environment, access to credit lines, among other questions. Was also performed a visit to the park during the 10 days of EXPOARA, observing the interaction of the public with the party and also the syndicate discourse. In this order, were applied 51 questionnaires to perceive the influence of livestock in the lives of the Araguainians. In this context, it is evident that livestock farming has the acceptance of many Araguainans, partly because of its tradition in the region and the cultural acceptance of the public, as well as through its symbolic power.