Análise das redes sociais no arranjo produtivo leiteiro do Vale do Taquari - RS : reflexos da comunicação e cooperação entre atores sobre a qualidade do leite.

Abstract

The production of milk in Rio Grande do Sul (RS) is considered one of the main agricultural activities, moves 5.9 billion reais in the southern economy, accounts for 11% of the national milk production and is present in 90% of the southern municipalities. In Taquari Valley (TV) is one of the largest dairy basins in the RS gathering approximately 8,800 farms that supply 20 agroindustries. The quality of the milk must comply with the parameters established by national and state legislation, because it is said that maximum quality is obtained at the time of milking and the following stages are from its maintenance to the point of consumption. Results of milk quality indicate that a significant portion of the milk produced does not meet the standards. The achievement of such standards is supported by the innovation and diffusion of process technologies in the network of actors formed by producers, agricultural industries, government agencies and research and extension units (UPE). Considering the complexity of the relationship of this network and the difficulty of mobilizing everyone to improve the quality indices, cooperation backed by communication becomes an instrument for achieving this goal. The objective of this research was to investigate the role of communication and cooperation among the actors of the milk production arrangement of the TV quality of raw milk improvement. For this purpose, the combination of qualitative, quantitative and Social Network Analysis (SNA) methods were used to better understand this situation. Bibliographic research has been carried out on legislation with internationally recognized quality standards. Actors were interviewed and the results of these interviews received content analysis. A survey applied to a sample of rural producers and the results received descriptive statistical analysis. For the understanding of the relational flows of communication and cooperation a SNA was realized. The results obtained with the research show that the internationally adopted indices for measuring milk quality are Somatic Cell Count and Total Bacterial Count. Approximately 50% of the milk quality results of the official TV samples do not meet these parameters. Resources such as process technologies, specialized technical assistance and training participation promote milk quality and are available in the productive arrangement, but its effectiveness in all rural properties is conditioned by its heterogeneity and the limited diffusion of process technologies that allow the production of quality milk. The network of communication and cooperation mapped with the help of the SNA denote that the actors are interconnected in wide networks without isolation. The SNA metrics showed low levels of relational exchange (low density, cohesion and clustering), which conditions the technological diffusion. A potentiator of quality is the willingness to cooperate admitted by most of the interviewed actors. It was identified that research and extension units are able to gather the other actors and set up communication and cooperation guidelines to promote technological innovation and necessary diffusion to improve milk quality.