The struggle and resistance of peasant farmers in the dairy production chain of São Francisco do Brejão/MA/Brazil

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the territorial resistance of peasant farmers in the dairy production chain of São Francisco do Brejão/MA in the context of capital attacks in rural areas through the establishment of technical regulations (Normative Instructions 51/62) and the occupation of new plots by the company Suzano Papel e Celulose S/A in the Maranhense countryside, leading to the expropriation of peasant lands. The empirical basis of the investigation includes the accounts of peasant farmers in the production chain, visits to small properties, the examination of technical standards, specialized websites, and the analysis of academic productions about the region. It concludes that the use of technical standards congruent with commodity production by corporations engenders a pattern of destructive agrarian development for the peasantry and, paradoxically, stimulates struggles and resistances.