Family agroindustries of small berries in farms in municipality of Vacaria, Rio Grande do Sul: an economic analysis

Abstract

The municipality of Vacaria (state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil) is a major producer of small berries in Brazil such as blackberry, blueberry and raspberry. Family agroindustries play a different role in the production units and are a source of complementary income in many farms, although it is not a tradition in that municipality. In order to improve traditional family farm systems and to create alternatives for their consolidation, studies that analyze the feasibility of implementing food processing units in rural farms are important, but they are not found in literature. Thus, the objective of this work is to evaluate the potentialities of the implementation of small berry processing family agroindustries in municipality of Vacaria through a technical-economic analysis. The results show the high initial investment for the implementation of small berry orchards and family agroindustry. However, when comparing the commercialization of processed fruits with the activity that is currently being performed by producers (which is the commercialization of fresh or frozen fruits), it is observed that this is a profitable activity. Different forms of association are necessary to help farmers keep the family agroindustries since they may help them in negotiations with larger companies, and may contribute to optimizing the use of resources.