The economic dimension of the production of self-consumption in settled families of agrarian reform in Rio Grande Sul

Abstract

This article seeks to demonstrate the diversity and economic expression of food production
for self - consumption, which is one of the important characteristics of family agriculture and
plays a central role for many settled agrarian reform families. For the collection of information,
the data of the Integrated Rural Management System of ATES (SIGRA) and of the Network of
Pedagogical Observation Units (RUOP) were developed and implemented by the Technical,
Social and Environmental Advisory Program (ATES/RS). As a result, it was identified that the
gross value generated with the production of self-consumption of 9719 families settled in RS
exceeds 40 million reais per year, which represents an average value of R$ 4200.00/family/
year. The data show that the production destined to the self-consumption represented only
18% of the value of the gross annual product generated by the families, showing that the settled
families realize a production beyond the subsistence.