AGRIBUSINESS AND COVID-19: AN ANALYSIS OF (UN)EMPLYMENT IN AGROPOLO PETROLINA - PE

Abstract

The increase in production and productivity by large agribusiness corporations reveals that although fruit growing, especially in Petrolina, is celebrated as a modern economic activity and generator of jobs in the Brazilian semi-arid region, even with the Covid-19 pandemic, there is, in fact, the manifestation of the essence - decrease in food production and high number of unemployed. In this sense, the study was developed at Agropolo Petrolina-PE, whose objective was to understand agribusiness in Petrolina - PE as a generator of wealth due to high production and productivity to meet the scale - local, national and, mainly, global, at the same time. which has repercussions on a high rate of hunger and unemployment, via the expropriation of land, of work as a use value, of healthy food, of life. The methodological paths started from: organization of bibliographical research, consultation of sites concerning the content for a better understanding of the data in the quantitative/qualitative aspect. As a result, it was found that the expansion of agribusiness, based on irrigated fruit growing in the Agropolo under study, has largely benefited the large supermarket chains that control the food industry transformed into commodities to the detriment of the workers' diet. It is concluded that the agri-food model supported by large corporations does not reduce unemployment and hunger in Agropolo, on the contrary, in times of a pandemic, it intensified the number of workers hired temporarily since agribusiness was the only expanding sector in the pandemic.