Rural development in micro-regional scale: a micro analysis of non-tobacco growing and tobacco growing in Rio Grande do Sul in the first decade of the 21st century

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to present and analyze some results in terms of regional dynamics of rural development for the Rio Grande do Sul in the first decade of the 21st century, emphasizing the comparison between non-tobacco growing and tobacco growing regions. This will be done through the construction of a Rural Development Index (RDI) for 35 micro-regions of the state of Rio Grande do Sul defined by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). For construction of the IDR were considered 36 indicators divided into five dimensions (social, demographic, political-institutional, economic and environmental). The initial hypothesis was confirmed raised, since the area under tobacco in Rio Grande do Sul, considering the years 2000 and 2008, would have advanced mainly in the less dynamic, less IDR. It can also attest that the development of tobacco cultivation in the period considered is also given in the tobacco growing regions traditionally characterized by low IDR presented, although well advanced in some areas not traditionally tobacco growing, these IDR even lower. The methodology adopted is not possible to correlate directly with the advancement of tobacco growing worse or better in the indicators of rural development or analysis in terms of (un) sustainability, since each variable is taken at only one point in time. Still, we determined the validity of the methodology for comparative analysis in space (if this work) and time (allowing comparisons and changes over time).