Agribusiness of the oil palm and peasants in the Pará

Abstract

The capitalist expansion of dendê palm agriculture in northeastern Pará at the beginning of the 21st century is utterly linked to the political trends of Luís Inácio Lula da Silva's government in 2003, when the investment in the production of agro fuels in Brazil mounted. The discourse concerning regional preservation and development, connected with the social inclusion of peasants in the dendê palm production chain, were jointed in this scenario. In contrast to the prospect of income flowing and, consequently, the improvement of the life of the countryside people expressed in the PNPB, there was the expansion of disputes between agribusiness and land of peasant labor. Thus, this article aims to discuss the spatial spreading of dendê palm business in northeastern Pará State as well as the actions strategically undertaken by peasants to resist this process. The text was based on the analyses derived from the field research carried out between 2012 and 2017 in the region. More specifically, we present a geo-historical approach to dendê palm farming in the Amazon and its contradictory relations with the peasant families living in its vicinity.

Keywords

• Campesinato
• Agronegócio
• Pará
• Amazônia