Vol. 14(31), pp. 1359-1368, August, 2019 DOI: 10.5897/AJAR2018.13329 Article Number: 8C19F6D61605 ISSN: 1991-637X Copyright ©2019 African Journal of Agricultural Author(s) retain the copyright of this article http://www.academicjournals.org/AJAR Research Full Length Research Paper The trade of the cattle fair in alagoas’ agreste:a description of this step of the comercialization process José Adeilton da Silva Filho1*, André Maia Gomes Lages1, José Crisólogo de Sales Silva2, Conceição Maria Dias de Lima2 and Luciano Celso Brandão Guerreiro Barbosa1 1Faculdade de Economia, Administração e Contabilidade, Universidade Federal de Alagoas Universidade Federal de Alagoas – Ufal, Brazil. 2Departamento de Zootecnia, Universidade Estadual de Alagoas – Uneal, Brazil. Received 14 June, 2018; Accepted 19 April, 2019 This paper presents a descriptive study about the economic activity in cattle fairs from Alagoas’ countryside, Brazil, through visits in loco, application of questionnaires and secondary data obtained from Adeal in the two main fairs on Alagoas’ countryside, Brazil. The objective was to study the quantity of animals in the events, identifying the marketing channel and its segments, the negotiation volume and value, and also how to describe the working of this fair, the types of consumers and other agents. The sampling of secondary data was obtained through the animal transit guide (GTA) in the defense and farming system (Sidagro) to the Canafistula fair on the period of March to September of 2015. On this sampling, the total number of bovine that entered the fairs was 30,732 heads with 521 bovine negotiated in average, coming not only from Alagoas but also from Pernambuco and Sergipe, with 93, 04 and 03% being the respective percentages. The number of deals in average was 128 by fair, according to the data period collected in 47 fairs. The value negotiated per week, adding both fairs, is in average R$474,711.04 or US$131,135.65. The cattle fairs from Alagoas’ countryside have three possible buyers’ types, that are classified as for slaughter, trade and rearing. Thus it was possible to diagnose, in a way, the economic relevance of the event as also the confirmation of a distribution channel and consequently its macrosegments. Key words: Cattle fair, economy, marketing channel, Alagoas. INTRODUCTION Brazil has as an important economic activity the of 1,255,696.00 animals. production of bovine, and, according to data acquired by Consequently, the counties from Alagoas‘ countryside Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) have in the livestock one of its main economic activities, (Brasil, 2006), since 2001 the quantity of bovine cattle is that according to Lira (2007) comes since the conception bigger than Brazilian individuals, reaching the mark of of the state, in 1817, when the mill lords need to rear 215,199,488.00 bovine animals in 2015. The northeast animals, amongst them the bovine, to auxiliate the sugar region concentrates approximately 22% of the total herd production and in the livestock. ―The mill lords, needing of cattle, on which the state of Alagoas has a herd many animals to perform various tasks in the sugarcane *Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]. Author(s) agree that this article remain permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International License 2.1 Sampling 1360 Afr. J. Agric. Res. The settlement of the sample to diagnose the proportion of each type of consumer on the fair will be given based on the estimative of the finite population proportion, through the formula: fields, began to rear horses, donkeys and bovine […]‖ x x x N (Lira, 2007: 14, our emphasis). n= (1) d x (N-1) x x The traditional animals fairs, known also as livestock fair, (1) is a popular trade in a big number of the countryside counties from the state of Alagoas, that works as means where: N = size of the population, Z = trust level, P = proportion of expected accuracy, Q = (1 – P), d = sampling error. to transact the exceeding animals produced in the farms The data collected with Sidagro are about the number of to other activities such as rearing and slaughter. The confirmed negotiations, that is, the quantity of sellers and buyers cattle fair is a market of great significance to the who closed a purchase agreement, as also the number of cattle population of northeast and consequently to Alagoas, be that enters the fair and the origin of those who buy and sell at the it economically as much as culturally, historically and fair. The period of data obtained on Sidagro to the Canafístula fair is from March 23rd to August 31st 2015, and to the fair of socially. Since in every fair people from different social st rd DoisRiachos the obtained data are from April 1 to September 23 classes seek to socialize in the trade environment, this 2015. To get to the necessary sampling number to apply the also happens in the cattle fair. Many people go there not questionnaire the average number of closed deals on both fairs was only to commercialize, but also to seek leisure and researched and then was made the utilization of 95% of trust level, entertainment. 50% of expected accuracy1 and 5% for sampling error. ―In the cattle fair [...] merchants, watchmen, bus drivers, According to the data collected on Sidagro and processed in the electronic spreadsheet, the average of confirmed negotiations, that doctors, lawyers and cattle ranchers, that have in is, the quantity of sellers and buyers that closed a purchase common the ‗taste for cattle‘, enjoy Sunday‘s morning to agreement in the period of approximately six months on the two meet, talk, ‗look at the cattle‘ and also to do business‖ main fairs from the countryside of Alagoas is 127.3617021, (MAIA, 2007: 22). considerate 128 negotiations per fair, what asks for a minimum In order to know the economic activity of this important sample of 96 interviews. and popular mechanism of the agricultural trade, it was sought to describe its operation, the types of CHARACTERIZATION OF THE OBJECT OF STUDY commercialization, the current values in reais moved in these activities, quantities of actives, types of consumers, Located in the left margin in the way Maceió – Santana do Ipanema distinguishing them through their buying finality, origin of the highway BR – 316, in the village Canafístula of Frei Damião location of the animals, identifying the commercialization on the county of Palmeira dos Índios/ AL, are the currals of the channel and the productive chain with its possible cattle fair of Canafístula. Located also in the left margin and of the same way of BR – 316, on the county of Dois Riachos, are the macrossegments according to Batalha (2009). currals of the cattle fair of DoisRiachos. The Canafístula fair takes place every Monday, and the Dois Riachos every Wednesday. The fairs begin at dawn, around 4:30 METHODOLOGY AM, when the sellers guide the animals to the fairs corrals where the negotiations happen. At first sunlight the day‘s negotiations The research is of descriptive and exploratory character with case begin, and they go as far as midday. However, according to the study. In this frame, the study preserves some doses of pioneering sellers, after 11 AM the chances of selling an animal drop highly. in a local level. The application of the method is done through visits After the negotiations are finished the animals are conducted by the in loco, in the two most important cattle fairs of the state according sellers and other workers, called ―vaqueiros‖, the cowboys, that to recommendation from the Agency of Defense and Farming have the role of guiding the cattle herding it from the corrals, Inspection of Alagoas (Adeal), the cattle fair from the village of making it climb a ramp, called ―embarcadeiras‖, to the cattle truck or Canafístula in the county of Palmeira dos Índios – AL and the cattle heading by foot to their new or old places. The process makes it so fair from Dois Riachos located in the county of same name. Primary that the movement on the fairs goes up to 1PM maximum. The data will also be used through the application of questionnaires and peak of the fair is at 9 AM, when the flow of buying and selling is at secondary data collected on the System of Farming Defense from its highest point. The sellers are the first to come and the last to Alagoas (Sidagro – AL). leave, the cost to transport each animal is R$ 20.00 or US$5.52 a The choice of primary data comes from the necessity of fixed price2, there is also the expense of R$ 1.00 or US$0.28 per quantifying the price of the animals acquired in the negotiations, animal with the animal transit guide (GTA) and the fee to enter the and the qualitative data relative to sex and age of these animals in fair of Dois Riachos of R$ 2.50 or US$0.69/animal. In Canafístula months, as well as the type of consumers of these actives. The there is not this fee, although there is a monthly rent of R$ 15.00 or consumers were grouped according to the finality to the active US$4.14 per corral. There is in Canafístula a community corral, if (bovine) acquired in the negotiations. The secondary data from the seller does not want to rent an individual corral, that is free of Sidagro – AL comes from the necessity of measuring the real charges. number of negotiations that happened in the fair, being the The animals are negotiated in spot market, as in most fairs, negotiations the population studied and thus finding the feasible although they can also be sold on credit.