Soya chain expansion in the north amazon: the cases of Roraima and Amapá

Abstract

The expansion of soybean cultivation towards the Amazon is not only a reality as it has achieved prominence in the last decade. Encouraged by international market demand, this culture has become a key element in the Brazilian surplus generation strategy, as well as the localization strategies of agri-food corporations given the importance of soybean production in Brazil and in the Southern Cone. The expansion of cultivation in the Amazon has generated a new design with the creation of new productive spaces, with the creation of new logistics and transport routes. In this new design, this dynamic has altered the territorial and productive arrangement of the regional economy printing a new logic in the management of the territory led in part by large corporations. This article aims to contribute to the discussion about the dynamics and the processes of expansion of soybean cultivation in the so - called "last agricultural frontiers" of the country. The study considers as empirical cases the soybean expansion in the states of Roraima and Amapá located in the brazilian northern Amazon. The qualitative research consists of the mapping of social actors and their networks of polity. Data from the Municipal Agricultural Production (PAM) survey of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) are also used for the municipalities selected in the period 2010-2016. The results show that the dynamics of expansion of the northern agricultural frontier are mobilized both by the logistic corridor of the Northern Arc (Central and West Axes) and the spatial strategies of the large agribusiness corporations and related groups. The crops expand under stretches of north-central Roraima and southern Amapá, especially in the lavrado/cerrado areas, but forest areas are also being used. This scenario results in a greater productive and selective restructuring of these territories, accompanied by an income generation that is increasingly concentrated, which often leads to increasing social and environmental liabilities.