The characterization of the family farmers who grow tobacco in the Territory of South-Central/RS

Abstract

Tobacco cultivation in Brazil is centered in the South and in its vast majority settled in the category of Family Farming. This fact brings a set of typical characteristics of this social group that approach and differentiate them at the same time. This article aims to present and analyze some of these characteristics focusing on farmers in the territory south-center of the state of Rio Grande do Sul. The method used was the construction and analysis of a database based on primary interviews conducted by professional staff of agricultural extension. As a result, it was possible to realize that these farmers, in their majority, have a formal education in elementary level, and the higher and technical education is not configured as a current reality. They are involved with the cultivation of tobacco between twenty to thirty years, producing a high degree of knowledge on the topic and a group of structures within the property. They grow on average thirty thousand feet of tobacco per harvest, but many use the expansion strategy of this acreage back to marketing for the market "profiteers". Families showed high to very high economic dependence of tobacco cultivation, however 65% showed interest in leaving the activity.