ESPECIALIZAÇÃO PRODUTIVA EM PEQUENAS CIDADES: O CASO DE SANTA CRUZ DO RIO PARDO - SP E A INDÚSTRIA DE BENEFICIAMENTO DE ARROZ

Abstract

This paper aims to discuss how production specialization occurred in the small town of Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo and to contribute to the discussion related to towns and villages that developed production / functional specializations. To carry out the work, primary and secondary sources were used, i.e. field survey, bibliographic research and data collection on the rice processing sector. It was observed that Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo’s economy walks hand-in-hand with the rice processing industry, thus representing the largest pole of the aforementioned industry outside Rio Grande do Sul, the country’s top state in the sector. Rice fields’ origins relates to the initiative of local social agents, whose accumulated capital through rural activities was invested in rice processing machines by Máquinas Suzuki industries, giving rise, in the mid-1960s, to the analyzed industry and production specialization in this small town.