(Re)existência da agricultura familiar às políticas de desenvolvimento e ao agronegócio: uma análise da produção e da comercialização da agricultura familiar em Caxias-MA

Abstract

The objective of this research is to analyze forms of resistance within family farming in contrast to agribusiness and development policies—policies often presented as strategies to strengthen the regional economy and agriculture. In practice, however, this development translates into social struggles when the operational logic of agribusiness and standardized policy models diverge from the discourses and ways of life of family farmers, *quilombolas*, and babassu nut breakers, among others. Public and private sectors increasingly view family farming as a space for capital investment, seeking to promote the abandonment of traditional practices deemed obsolete because they run counter to the logic of agribusiness and development policies. In this context, the research process analyzing farmers' forms of resistance comprised three stages: 1) understanding the effects of development policies and agribusiness on family farming; 2) identifying the production process; and 3) examining the dynamics of resistance present in the marketing of agricultural products. To achieve these objectives, the study employed—in addition to literature reviews and secondary data analysis—fieldwork at open-air markets in Caxias and in the rural community of Belenzinho (Caxias, Maranhão). This methodology revealed that the strategies adopted by family farmers counter the logic of agribusiness by championing a production model based on product quality, thereby integrating practices that represent both continuity and rupture within the production process.