Statistical analysis of family farming production commercialization

Maria Luiza De Grandi, Journalist at Ciência Rural, Santa Maria RS, Brazil. 

Simone Bueno Camara, PhD student in Rural Extension at Universidade Federal de Santa Maria. Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. 

Family farming is a type of agriculture practiced on small properties, essentially with a workforce made up of members of the same family. The commercialization of production guarantees the livelihood of rural families, and the way and place where they are sold reveal information about the relationships and social structures of this segment of society. 

In this context, researchers from the Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (UFSM) verified the diversity of markets and marketing channels used by family farmers in the Central Region of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, examining the occurrence of variables associated with the number of channels accessed. The statistical analysis resulted in the article Markets and commercialization channels in the central region of Rio Grande do Sul: relevant factors for fruit and vegetable producers, published in Ciência Rural (vol. 53, n.º11).

The methodology used was based on field research with 129 fruit and vegetable producers in the Central Region of Rio Grande do Sul, in the municipalities of Cachoeira do Sul, Novo Cabrais, Cerro Branco and Paraíso do Sul, between the years 2019 and 2021. The farmers evaluated carried out productive activities with a commercial focus, regardless of the scale of sales. The research instrument consisted of 36 questions distributed in three sections: socio-structural, production and commercialization. Questionnaire data was collected using Open Data Kit (ODK) resources. 

“The Open Data Kit tools allow the questionnaire to be completed using an APP (ODK Collect) that runs on a cell phone and does not require an internet connection during completion, with the questionnaire answers being temporarily stored on the cell phone. For collection on rural properties where internet connection does not always exist, this is an important feature”, explains Simone Camara, one of the authors of the research.

Image: Simone Camara.

The main results demonstrate that fruit and vegetable farmers are selling especially in local markets, highlighting the importance of the territory for production and consumption relations, especially when linked to productive forms linked to family farming. 

According to Simone Camara, the importance of selling in multiple marketing channels is linked to economic and commercial security, as it allows for greater flexibility in case unforeseen events occur in markets mediated by purchase and sale contracts. “Another important result is the dependency relationship between the number of accessed policies and diversification; the more access to public policies, the greater the diversification in terms of accessed channels”.

In practice, the research allows us to understand that the diversification of channels is associated with greater access for farmers to public policies, suggesting the importance of developing forms of promotion for farmers to access and use these policies. 

“Linked to this is also the positive association between equipment/infrastructure ownership and channel diversification, which highlights the importance of investing in infrastructure in rural areas. These scientific findings point to the need for involvement and action on topics of this scope by public organizations, technical assistance and rural extension organizations, but also by the farmers’ organizations themselves”, concludes Camara.

To read the article, access

BRANDÃO, J.B., et al. Markets and commercialization channels in the central region of Rio Grande do Sul: relevant factors for fruit and vegetable producers. Ciência Rural [online]. 2023, vol. 53, no. 11, e20220464 [viewed 25 April 2024]. https://doi.org/10.1590/0103-8478cr20220464. Available from: https://www.scielo.br/j/cr/a/8z5K7JCgH7dZy5QZ3TrT5cg/  

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