Os nexos e nuances do espaço agrário na microrregião de Valença-BA.

Abstract

Inserted within the mesoregional geographic context of southern Bahia, the set of municipalities comprising the Valença microregion exhibits characteristics in its formation and structuring process that interact with common rural spatial phenomena within the mesoregional context. However, this region also presents spatial processes and contents that manifest with a peculiar concentration compared to other areas. We start with the categorical assumptions of space and region for understanding phenomena as a starting point for the research. Thus, we operationalize the study based on the methodological frameworks of regional analysis. Although, currently, research on this area generally favors the functional regionalization established by the government of Bahia, which designates regions as Territories of Identity, with the region in question being named the Territory of Identity Baixo Sul da Bahia, the research understands the territory and its identity as expressions of the structural bases proposed for analysis here, given that the dynamism of the agrarian space results in territorial and identity configurations. The research proposes a structural analysis based on what is established and has been reproduced as paradigms for the production and reproduction of agrarian space, considering both the links and the transformative and/or restructuring events we refer to as nuances. Committed to the phenomenon, we base our analysis on regional geography assumptions, contextualizing the microregional cut with the multiple structuring factors. We operationalize the research through the analysis of secondary data on agricultural production and land structure, as well as participatory and exploratory field activities. We find that the microregional context interacts with the mesoregional context concerning cocoa cultivation, which emerges as a crucial link in the southern Bahia analysis. However, in the Valença microregion, where there is a significant presence of Black and smallholder peasantry, cocoa cultivation coexists with other crops. This dynamic represents a strategy of peasants facing their vulnerability in relationships. This dynamism intrinsically constitutes perennial agricultural subsystems concentrated in the microregion. The inclusion of these subsystems is an initiative from both the public sphere and the corporate realm of capitalist agriculture. Despite the interaction within peasant units, the crops exhibit different market dynamics. Those integrated into corporate structures have a verticalized dynamic, while those with historical and public institutional integration face disintegration but continue to reproduce vigorously at the microregional scale due to the solidarity present in family farming practices.