SUCCESSORY PROCESS IN FAMILY FARMING AND IMPACTS ON RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

Family succession in small rural agricultural properties, taking into consideration the low incidence of permanence on the cropfield, tends to generate uncertainty in the continuity of the production of varied foods for the population, interrupt agricultural work on small properties and reduce the number of Brazilian rural communities. The aging of owners, as well as the lack of interest of their children in the succession of their properties and professions, leads toward the selling of the land to large landowners, which, in turn, tends to shrink the population of cities and towns, also affecting local businesses whose financial flows depend on local consumers. In a field survey carried out with 62 retired small landowners – 32 from Bom Sucesso do Sul, and 30 from Sulina, both rural municipalities located in the Immediate Geographic Microregion of Southwest Paraná – the results showed that only 16, 12% of those interviewed still had children living on their rural properties. Even though 24, 19% of the children were interested in remaining in farming, there was no incentive whatsoever to acquire more land. Other factors identified are the lack of public incentive policies and product pricing policies to provide security in the economic production outcomes. This result is a warning of the possibility that, in the very near future, small family farming properties will be absorbed by large agricultural enterprises, leading to the migration of these families to cities, which should have a strong effect in the rural development and food production for domestic consumption in Brazil.