Ações coletivas nos assentamentos rurais da reforma agrária do Centro-Oeste brasileiro

Abstract

The creation of associations and cooperatives has been highlighted as an important way of production, organization, value added and marketing for family agriculture to remain competitive. Thus, this research had as general objective to identify and analyze the forms of collective actions in the rural settlements of the agrarian reform of the Brazilian Center-West, region with high index of land concentration. To achieve this objective, non-probabilistic sampling and qualitative-quantitative methodology were used, with questionnaires and interviews. Fifty-five presidents of organizations from 54 settlements in the Midwest region and 1162 settlers from the three states were interviewed. Data were analyzed using the xlstat program. The results indicate that more than half of the respondents stated that they had some connection with the collective organization of the settlement. Among the institutions surveyed, political organizations are, on average, larger than commercial organizations, which is consistent with the expectations and characteristics of exclusive and inclusive groups. For the most part, they are formalized legally, as associations, cooperatives or groups and do not usually make investments, especially in private goods. Members of political organizations invest primarily in operational costs and common goods, with faster returns and greater difficulty in excluding their members. Some factors that may influence collective actions have been identified, highlighting the size of the groups. The need for benefits was also considered important, even if the benefits are not always clearly perceived by the members. The characteristics of the groups were also pointed out as one of the contributory factors for the existence of cooperation. It was also analyzed the existence of sanctions for those who do not participate in the activities of the group, having been found to be rare and little applied. It was possible to identify factors that can influence collective action, with different specificities according to the type of organization, political or commercial. The creation of associations and cooperatives has been highlighted as an important way of production, organization, value added and marketing for family agriculture to remain competitive. Thus, this research had as general objective to identify and analyze the forms of collective actions in the rural settlements of the agrarian reform of the Brazilian Center-West, region with high index of land concentration. To achieve this objective, non-probabilistic sampling and qualitative-quantitative methodology were used, with questionnaires and interviews. Fifty-five presidents of organizations from 54 settlements in the Midwest region and 1162 settlers from the three states were interviewed. Data were analyzed using the xlstat program. The results indicate that more than half of the respondents stated that they had some connection with the collective organization of the settlement. Among the institutions surveyed, political organizations are, on average, larger than commercial organizations, which is consistent with the expectations and characteristics of exclusive and inclusive groups. For the most part, they are formalized legally, as associations, cooperatives or groups and do not usually make investments, especially in private goods. Members of political organizations invest primarily in operational costs and common goods, with faster returns and greater difficulty in excluding their members. Some factors that may influence collective actions have been identified, highlighting the size of the groups. The need for benefits was also considered important, even if the benefits are not always clearly perceived by the members. The characteristics of the groups were also pointed out as one of the contributory factors for the existence of cooperation. It was also analyzed the existence of sanctions for those who do not participate in the activities of the group, having been found to be rare and little applied. It was possible to identify factors that can influence collective action, with different specificities according to the type of organization, political or commercial.