Mechanization and Job in the Coffee Growing of the Cerrado Mineiro

Abstract

The intensification of the use of mechanical harvesters in the culture of coffee in the meso-region of triângulo mineiro and alto paranaíba was analyzed in this paper. in such an area, that has characteristics of cerrado, there can be found one of the most well succeed experiences related to territorial productive arrangements on coffee growing. its introduction has provoked a series of impacts in the agricultural job market, on the one hand, with unemployment increasing of low qualification labor and, on the other hand, with the generation of work positions that require workers’ larger qualification. unemployment of the manpower of low qualification has been felt not only in the urban centers of those micro-regions, but also in the municipal districts from where the temporary workers come, mainly migrating from brazilian areas which are economically inferior to the southeast area. In this way, more than facing an irreversible tendency, as it is the case of the mechanization of the productive activity, it is necessary to have public policies of employment generation and income in those areas, allowing a more sustainable economical and social inclusion. The article is subdivided into six sections. The first is about the introduction and structuring of coffee crops in the Minas Gerais Cerrado. The second section analyses the coffee business in the municipalities that belong to the Conselho das Associações dos Cafeicultores do Cerrado (The Cerrado Coffee Farmers’ Association Council). The third section is about the Coffee harvest automisation process. The fourth section is a study of coffee production automatisation in the Minas Gerais Cerrado. The fifth section is about the coffee farm job growth in Minas Gerais Cerrado. Finally the conclusions.