Sugarcane expansion in the western region of São Paulo state: effects and impacts on family farming

• Grant number: 11/22810-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Start date: July 01, 2012
• End date: June 30, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Administration - Administration of Specific Sectors
• Principal Investigator: Wagner Luiz Lourenzani
• Grantee: Wagner Luiz Lourenzani
• Host Investigator: Marcellus Marques Caldas
• Host Institution: Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Tupã. Tupã , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Kansas State University, United States

Abstract

The search for alternative sources of cleaner energy has shaped governments politics around the world. Among the renewable energy sources have been those obtained by means of biomass, which highlights the biofuel. In developing countries, the best example of the growing use of renewable energy is given by the Brazilian ethanol program from sugar cane. Comparative advantages over other biofuels, the industry is currently undergoing a new round of expansion, induced by growing worldwide demand for energy alternatives and the consolidated market, supported by the technology of flex fuel cars. Brazil is the world's largest producer of cane sugar, and Sao Paulo the largest producing state. It has been observed in recent years, rapid growth in the area planted with sugar cane in the western region of São Paulo. This process has triggered specific changes in space and social relations in the field. Besides the occupation of areas for food production, biofuels raise attention of an environmental nature. The possibility of triggering a process of land concentration, rural exodus and the rising price of land tends to impact the family farm in the region. Changes in training territorial, as the region west of the São Paulo state, trigger changes in the configuration of the rest of the country. In this context the main objective of this research is to evaluate the expansion of the cultivation of sugar cane in western Sao Paulo state, in order to understand the process of conversion of non-producing areas in cane production and thus discuss possible effects in terms of direct and indirect impacts of this process, specifically in family farming. This goal is complex and requires the use of different methods of analysis. Thus, this research will use, in combination, two types of scientific research: a descriptive (and quantitative) and a qualitative (and exploratory). Both methods make use of primary data (interviews) and secondary. The descriptive statistical analysis and use data generated through geographic information systems and remote sensing to analyze land use change. Exploratory research will examine the socio-economic consequences in the region and farming family, coming of that expansion, in a qualitative perspective. Understanding these changes and their effects, made possible by a more thorough analysis of a micro-region, can serve as an important tool of information for other regions with potential for expansion of sugar cane, supporting the development and implementation of public policies and private (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

WAGNER LUIZ LOURENZANI; MARCELLUS MARQUES CALDAS. Mudanças no uso da terra decorrentes da expansão da cultura da cana-de-açúcar na região oeste do estado de São Paulo. Ciência Rural, v. 44, n. 11, p. 1980-1987, 2014-11-00. (11/22810-9)