Reflexos da pandemia da COVID-19 na gestão do agronegócio

Abstract

During 2020, agribusiness was responsible for 26.6% of Brazil's gross domestic product, and of this total, agriculture accounted for 68% of the generation. Third largest producer of food and fiber in the world, Brazil currently ranks second in the export of rural products, so that, in 2020, the value obtained in such transactions figured in the amount of US$ 101 billion. Relevant not only quantitatively, but also for the Brazilian history, agribusiness has been the stage for several managerial studies, considering its strong exposure to external factors such as weather and foreign currency variations, due to the commodity nature of its products. Emerging as a stumbling block, not only to agribusiness, but to the entire world economy, the Covid-19 pandemic has had several effects on economic variables, and so it is expected that cost, price, and managerial variables as a whole have been affected in some way. Thus, this paper aims to identify the main effects caused by the Covid-19 pandemic in agribusiness in the perception of rural producers, taking into account their various aspects of costs, prices and management variables. Of qualitative approach, applied and descriptive nature in relation to its objectives, in order to provide the intended understanding, semi-structured interviews were applied to producers in the Triângulo Mineiro and Alto Paranaíba region, an area of national prominence in terms of grain cultivation and processing. The perception of the producers in the valuation of agricultural commodities and also the increases in the prices of inputs, machinery, and the availability of products were evidenced in the interviews. There was also an appreciation of these commodities as never seen in previous years, which made it difficult to predict and apply strategies to manage costs.