A DISPUTA PELO TERRITÓRIO: AGRICULTURA CAMPONESA VERSUS AGRONEGÓCIO NO MUNICÍPIO DE BALSAS MARANHÃO

Abstract

This paper analyses the socio-territorial conflicts between peasants and large producers connected to agribusiness in the municipality of Balsas - Maranhão, aiming at explicating the dynamics and the impacts of these conflicts in the rural settlements of São José and Gado Bravinho. Thus, we seek to unveil the intricate mosaic of conflicts in which these social actors are involved, with nefarious consequences for the peasants and the environment. These conflicts, however, most of the times, remain hidden by the ideological “smokescreen” of the economical/social pseudo-development promoted by agribusiness, all under the skewed look of public agents who should impartially arbitrate them. Such conflicts in the south of Maranhão, with its epicenter in the municipality of Balsas, has its origins related to the settlement policies and agricultural incentives carried out by the military government in the 1970s, when the region received a great number of immigrants coming from the south of the country. These immigrants brought with them the territoriality of agribusiness, which is very different, however, from that which characterizes the peasants, producers who have historically inhabited the savanna in the south of Maranhão and have, through resistance, fought for the maintenance of their way of life and their territory. The activities performed by the new social actors have not always been executed under the best criteria in terms of nature preservation and appreciation of pre-existent territories, which have, since its beginning, promoted the installation of new socio-territorial conflicts that reconfigure themselves and become constantly more complex.