THE ADVANCE OF SOYBEAN CULTIVATION INTO THE SEMIARID REGION: A MULTIDISCIPLINARY ANALYSIS OF AGRIBUSINESS EXPANSION IN CARIRI

Abstract

This article critically analyses the encroachment of agribusiness into the Cariri region of Ceará, with a focus on the recent expansion of soya cultivation in the Chapada do Araripe. Based on a literature review and documentary analysis of socio-economic and production data, the study investigates the contradictions inherent in the territorialisation of agribusiness in a region characterised by specific socio-environmental features, the presence of the Caatinga biome, and historical water vulnerability. It is argued that the expansion of soya in the semi-arid region represents not only the introduction of a new agricultural crop, but the incorporation of the territory into the broader logic of capital reproduction, characterised by land concentration, the expropriation of family farming, the intensification of socio-environmental conflicts, and growing pressure on strategic water resources. The study demonstrates that the developmentalist discourse associated with agribusiness obscures structural impacts on biodiversity, peasant ways of life and regional food security, particularly in a context of climate change and increased vulnerability to droughts. It is concluded that the expansion of agribusiness in Cariri reinforces unequal patterns of development and deepens the commodification of nature, pointing to the need to build alternatives based on coexistence with the semi-arid region, ecological sustainability and the promotion of peasant agriculture.