A geoeconomia dos complexos produtivos de suínos e aves na região oeste catarinense

Abstract

The western region of Santa Catarina region, located in the South of Brazil, has its territorial and geo-economic formation linked to different economic cycles and to the socio-economic construction of pig and poultry production, which was promoted by the state and the first industrial entrepreneurs. The main aim of this Dissertation was to understand the geo-economic dynamics of the poultry and pig production complexes in the western region of Santa Catarina. In order to understand the economic dynamics of this region, periodization was fundamental. From the 1920s to the mid-1950s, the timber economic cycle was at its peak. Capital was accumulated through the formation of small commercial properties. In the 1960s, with the modernization of agriculture in Brazil, pig and poultry production on market farms became integrated with industry. In the 1980s and 1990s, the pig and poultry production complex began to restructure its production and, from that moment on, the region’s geo-economy became dynamic and complex. Methodologically, this research followed different approaches: 1) bibliographical and documentary review; 2) fieldwork and technical visits; 3) interviews and questionnaires; 4) data collection, with interpretation and analysis of this data presented in graphs, charts, tables and maps. The results of this research corroborate that the pig and poultry production complex has become integrated into the capitalist dynamic, which in turn has integrated the western region of Santa Catarina into the new production system. This system, with its different economic activities embedded in a process of restructuring productive forces and social relations of production, has made a decisive contribution to boosting the region’s geo-economy in Santa Catarina. The Thesis thus reaffirms that the pig and poultry production complex in the western region of Santa Catarina has become a huge production system. This production complex has connections with other production complexes that feed off each other, making different geo-economic integrations possible.