Abstract:
This paper addresses the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on access to markets by family farmers in Mariana. The research was theoretically guided by the discussion on the social construction of markets accessed by family farmers. A typology of markets developed by Schneider (2016) was used as an analytical model - which differentiates the main market channels accessed by family farmers in Brazil in order to assess possible changes in the forms of marketing during the pandemic. This is an exploratory and descriptive study, with a qualitative methodology consisting of semi-structured interviews with family farmers in Mariana. Through the content analysis of the interviews, it was possible to identify that the marketing channels available in the pandemic context did not change, but, due to access restrictions, in addition to the absence of incentives and public policies, farmers were impacted, highlighting the significant reduction in their income.
Keywords:
family farming; social construction of markets; COVID-19 pandemic