THE TERRITORIALIZATION OF AGRIBUSINESS AND PEASANT RESISTANCE

Abstract

The Várzeas de Sousa Irrigation Project - PIVAS, located in the upper sertão of Paraiba State is considered one of the new regional productive spaces. Conceived by the Federal Government in the 1950s, the project only began to take shape in 1998 and since 2007 it has been producing irrigated grain and horticulture for export. However, the new production model installed in the area, has led to the expulsion and dispossession of hundreds of peasant families from their land, which has generated a manifest conflict, waged by the struggle of this class against agribusiness and the capitalist model of production. Based on the transformations operating in that space, this article analyzes the peasants' struggle to return to their land, their forms of articulation and the strategies they use to overcome daily adversity, as well as attempting to maintain their roots and the peasant way of life.

Key words: Floodplains of Sousa; Agribusiness; Peasantry; Conflict