OS RESTAURANTES COMO OPORTUNIDADES DE COMPRAS DA AGRICULTURA FAMILIAR DE CORUMBÁ/MS

Abstract

The city of Corumbá , located on the BrazilBolivia border, is well served by restaurants, with a variety of flavors and ethnicities. Linked to an everincreasing population, semi with the cities of Puerto Quijarro, Puerto Suarez and Ladário, and the distance from conurbat ed major urban centers, it always needs to be well supplied with food products. These are easily found in supermarkets, open markets, grocery stores, urban gardens and rural settlements, giving restaurants a range of options when purchasing vegetables. Howeve r, the production of family agriculture from rural settlements is abundant and indispensable for local supply, configuring an excellent alternative for the purchase of agricultural products by local restaurants, in addition to strengthening family agricult ure, maintaining jobs, guaranteeing food security and boosting the local economy. Thus, this dissertation has the general objective of understanding the logistics of purchases of vegetables made by restaurants in Corumbá, in a border context . Specifically, search ed identifying vegetables and their form of acquisition by restaurants in the city of Corumbá, as well as the importance given to organic products; and discuss the logistics of purchasing vegetables by restaurants with a view to devising a service p roposal for rural settlements in Corumbá. From an applied, descriptive and qualitative approach, the survey research strategy was used through bibliographical sources (books, articles, dissertations and newspapers), interview scripts and informal conversat ions. The choice of restaurants was made by consulting information with the Commercial Association of Corumbá. Data collection took place through the application of scripts. Data analysis was based on the content analysis technique based on the speeches of territorial agents for structuring the proposal of a weekly basket of family farming products. Based on the data obtained, it is possible to say that the choice of the place of purchase is due to the best price, that there is still a great lack of knowled ge about the benefits and importance of organic/agroecological products and that restaurants are interested in buying from local family farmers. Given the above, restaurants can indeed become a marketing channel. It remains for family farmers to realize th is opportunity and organize their plantations so as not to miss this opportunity. Key words: Border, rural development, territoriality.