Redes do agronegócio canavieiro: a territorialização do grupo Tércio Wanderley no Triângulo Mineiro/Alto Paranaíba-MG

Abstract

This research aims to study the recent expansion of the sugar cane for the agro-fuels production in the Triangulo Mineiro/Alto Paranaiba. We start from the analysis of the Tercio Wanderley Group - traditional northeastern group on sugarcane industry since the 1920 s in the city of Coruripe - AL, and that, during the 1990 s, expanded its operations to the Triangulo Mineiro/Alto Paranaiba, deploying the first subsidiary in Iturama city, and in 2000 s where they set up three subsidiaries in Campo Florido, Limeira do Oeste and Carneirinho. From fieldwork in Coruripe units, we seek to understand the capital territorialization process through the networks establishment and circuits of production in the region. This process caused a territorial reconfiguration in the cities with the sugarcane plantations advance about too crops and livestock, as the previous sugarcane expansion were the main economic activities in these cities. Within the major changes in the region by sugarcane agribusiness record the increase in land prices, the influence on the job, which became less frequent due to mechanization, and changes on agriculture and peasant livelihood. Concerns about the impacts, environmental problems and unsustainable agro-fuels production reflect the problems of economic development generated by sugarcane agribusiness, which does not take into account the social development. Accordingly, the sugarcane agribusiness search strategies for sugar cane \"sustainable\" cultivation and attempt to raise the ethanol as new energy matrix, due to environmental levies and the \"sustainable development\" discourse. The territories appropriation for sugarcane production has been a major cause of conflict and territorial disputes in rural Brazil, where the agriculture industrialization subordinates nature to capital.