The socioeconomic profile of rope smoke production in the city of Perdões, MG

Abstract

The possibilities given by the modernization of brazilian agriculture provoques a series of inquiries on the form that man acts in rural space. The rope tobacco, tipical brazilian product, has its manufacture developed by the natives and has almost not changed until the early 80’s. The Perdões county, in the state of MG, located on the region Oeste de Minas and the hydrographic basin of Rio Grande, presented favorable conditions for a high quality tobacco and has a branch of the plant represented on the city crest, that confirms the importance of the activity for the county. Using questionnaires and teoric references, this work discusses some strategies practiced  by the family producers with the will to resist the hegemony of the agroindustry, investigating how they affect the traditional structure of rope tobacco production. Despite of still resisting the industrial standards, the transitional character leads to assimilation of new assumptions that does not match with the notions of quality historically built and passed through the genarations of traditional productors.