The role of CEAGESP’s upstate units in the marketing of fruits and vegetables

Abstract

The Companhia de Entrepostos e Armazéns Gerais de São Paulo (CEAGESP), established in 1969, is a Brazilian company whose main purpose is tocarry out the storage of grains and the sale of fruits and vegetables. CEAGESP hás the largest public network of warehouses in the State of São Paulo, in a complex comprising 13 wholesale units, operating as semi-public company linked to the Brazilian Ministry of Agrarian Development and Family Agriculture (MDA). The main purpose of this study was to analyze the performance of CEAGESP’s upstateunits, located in the municipalities of Araçatuba, Araraquara, Bauru, Franca, Guaratinguetá, Marília, Piracicaba, Presidente Prudente, Ribeirão Preto, São José do Rio Preto, São José dos Campos, and Sorocaba, in the state of São Paulo, as convergence points for fruits and vegetables. The analyses were carried out based on the notion of spatial production circuits, developed by Santos (1979). To achieve the research objectives, documentary and bibliographic research was conducted; statistical data was collected; and online questionnaires were applied in nine CEAGESP units: Araçatuba, Araraquara, Bauru, Franca, Guaratinguetá, Ribeirão Preto, São José do Rio Preto, and São José dos Campos, in addition to a face-to-face interview with the operational technician of the Presidente Prudente unit. Supply centers appear as convergence points for fruit and vegetable products, acting as agents of the spatial production circuit by mediating the relationships between the two circuits of the urban economy. Their main role is to connect producers and traders, as opposed to selling directly to final consumers.