Contract Farming and Family Labor Process in Northeastern Brazil

本项目考察了巴西东北部圣弗朗西斯科山谷的合同农业安排，解决了水果和蔬菜公司何时、何地、为何以及如何寻求建立合同农业的问题，农民家庭为何以及如何参与其中，以及家庭和公司的结果。它检验了一系列从现有文献和初步实地考察中得出的关于合同农业的原因和后果的假设。其中一些假设是关于企业承包农业安排的逻辑：它们考察了承包与生产过程的劳动强度、加工作物的目的地以及以前的企业共享农业经验之间的关系。其他假设是关于承包农业对相关家庭的影响。对合同农业家庭和依赖工资的家庭样本的结构化访谈将用于检验合同农业提供更高收入和更稳定收入的假设；它减少了家庭成员从事的创收辅助活动的范围；合同农业的成功与劳动力资源的可用性有关。对企业经理和合同农户的深入访谈将为统计结果的解释和交叉核查提供额外的数据。

This project examines contract farming arrangements in the Sao Francisco Valley of northeast Brazil, It addresses the question of when, where, why and how fruit and vegetable firms seek to institute contract farming, why and how farming families become involved in them, and the outcomes for both families and firms. It tests a series of hypotheses derived from existing literature and from a preliminary field visit, about the causes and consequences of contract farming. Some of these hypotheses are about the logic of contract farming arrangements for firms: they examine the relationships between contracting and labor intensity of the production process, the destination of crops for processing, and former firm experience in sharecropping. Other hypotheses are about the impact of contract farming on the families involved. Structured interviews with a sample of contract farming families and of wage-dependent families will be used to test the hypothesis that contract farming provides higher incomes and more stable incomes; that it decreases the range of income-generating auxiliary activities that family members perform; and that success of contract farming is correlated with greater availability of labor resources. In-depth interviews with firm managers, and with contract farming families will provide additional data for interpretation and cross-checking of statistical results.