Food or commodity? Indicators of food self-sufficiency in Agribusiness territories, Mato Grosso, Brazil

Abstract

The territory use for the production of agricultural commodities in counties of the agribusiness in Mato Grosso state has been occupying space for food production. The objective of this study was to present and discuss a composite indicator of self - sufficiency in the production of food in interface with the implications of the agribusiness productive model in the perspective of the Food Sovereignty of the territories, based on a case study carried out in the counties Campos de Júlio, Sapezal and Campo Novo dos Parecis. Socioeconomic data were collected based on the IBGE / 2010 Demographic Census, Profile of Brazilian States and Municipalities / IBGE, and the Agricultural Census of 2006. For data collection, data were available from IBGE - SIDRA for the year of 2016. Information was obtained on planted area of ​​cotton, rice, banana, coffee, sugar cane, citrus, beans, sunflower, corn, soybean, tomato. Interviews were conducted with rural workers and vegetable producers. Based on the data, composite indicators were developed for proposing a food self - sufficiency scale in the territories. The results point to iniquities in the occupation, dependence on food and increased use of pesticides as  consequence of the  production model, affecting local food production.