Dairy agroindustry in the RMF in the context of productive and territorial restructuring

Abstract

With the aim of analyzing the territorialization of agroindustrial capital and the transformations in the Metropolitan Region of Fortaleza in the context of a major restructuring of capitalism, one of whose facets is the restructuring of production and territory, this research was organized around bibliographical and statistical research and field investigation, with the consequent systematization and analysis of the collected material. The choice of the metropolitan space of Fortaleza as the analysis scope derives from its prominence, with regard to the metamorphoses in the productive and territorial structure that have been taking place in the State of Ceará in recent decades, reflecting the public and private policies that create favorable conditions for the expanded reproduction of capital. Thus, the temporal scope of the analysis is, above all, the last decades, when productive and territorial restructuring has been accentuated. The spatial fixes linked to the attraction of agro-industrial food capital in the municipalities that make up the RMF allow us to conclude that this capital is being spread beyond Fortaleza, reinforcing the ongoing agro-industrial metropolization. This occurs, above all, because the municipalities of the RMF are territories of production and reproduction in the process of global accumulation of capital, with a boost to agribusiness. The expansion of agro-industrial capital provides changes in equipment and urban flows, resulting in new forms of territorial apprehension, since the emergence or relocation of agro-industry influences rural-urban relations, as well as the process of metropolization, and, in addition to inducing the reinvention of urban spaces, reveals the recreation of the city by/for capital.