Floresta e Ambiente 2020; 27(3): e20180137 https://doi.org/10.1590/2179-8087.013718 ISSN 2179-8087 (online) ORIGINAL ARTICLE – Forest Management Description of the Mate Industrial Agglomerate of the Alto Vale Taquari, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil Henrique Piton Greff 1 0000-0002-0051-4824 Jorge Antonio de Farias1 0000-0001-7494-4176 Pabulo Diogo de Souza1 0000-0002-2446-8041 Abstract The mate (Ilex paraguariensis) market of Rio Grande do Sul has experienced the structuring of a productive chain of mate, from the implantation of the herbs, through industrialization, until they reach the final consumer. Thus, more advanced methods of productive and organizational development are necessary, such as the institutionalization of Local Productive Systems. Our study sought to identify and characterize the industrial settlement of the Alto Vale Taquari. The mechanisms adopted to identify the Local Productive Arrangements (LPA) were based on the evaluation of the data of the Annual Social Information Report, on-site verification of the existence of industries and indicators of industrial agglomeration. We identified 33 mate industries, in 5 municipalities. The industrial agglomerate was characterized as a Local Development Vector. Therefore, we observed a need to implement actions that promote the structuring of the agglomerate, especially regarding the institutionalization of governance. Keywords: local productive system, clusters, mate. 1. INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES In the State of Rio Grande do Sul, some regions stood out for the production of mate and the emergence of industries of The understanding of processes that lead to regional the mate sector, which began to experience a more competitive development has been linked to socioeconomic factors related to environment in the market and has its productive chain organized local and agglomerative issues of certain activities that generate in six poles, including the Alto Vale Taquari. This denomination employment and income. Among these factors, we emphasize originated from the creation and implementation of the RS Forest the Local Productive Arrangements (LPA), which is defined as Program (Rio Grande do Sul, 2010) and the formalization of territorial agglomerations with a relationship between intersectoral the “Revitalization Project of the Rio Grande do Sul mate poles”. agents organized to perform a certain set of economic activities According to the Sindicato da Indústria o Mate no Estado (Cassiolato & Lastres, 2003a; Saraceni & Andrade, 2013). do Rio Grande do Sul (SINDIMATE, c2011), the largest Changes resulting from the process of globalization of amount of mate consumed in the state comes from this region, the economy and the creation of economic blocs, particularly as well as the largest concentration of industries of the sector. MERCOSUR, resulted in a new reality for the mate productive These observations strongly indicate the existence of a Local chain. Historically, this chain carries the paradigm of Productive Arrangement in the Alto Vale Taquari region. “traditionalism”, both in the habit of chimarrão and in the However, SINDIMATE is still not aware of the identification process of industrial production that, conceptually, has changed and characterization of this mate industrial agglomerate. little since the beginning of its production. Mate market has Due to the wide range of questions regarding the topic experienced a more competitive environment ever since, Local Productive Arrangements, ranging from its concept demanding more advanced methods of development, from to the actions developed in this organizational structure, our the implantation of mate fields, through industrialization, to study addressed these questions, focusing on issues considered commercialization, when mate reaches the final consumer. more practical and feasible for the agents. 1 Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (UFSM), Santa Maria, RS, Brasil Creative Commons License. All the contents of this journal, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. 2 - 9 Greff HP, Farias JA, Souza PD The estimate of industrial agglomeration indicators 3. Assessment of industrial agglomeration indicators – to and the application of investigative methodologies that verify the identification, importance and classification enable the characterization of the actors involved in a of the arrangement, the following indicators given cluster have been technical forms of identification were applied: Locational Quotient (Equation 1); and characterization of local productive arrangements participation of employment of the economy class (Leite Filho & Antoniali, 2011). in the region compared to the total employment Our study sought to identify and characterize the LPA in the in the state (Equation 2); and minimum number Alto Vale Taquari region, by identifying deficiencies that hinder of establishments, according to the methodology its evolution and, consequently, direct efforts to strengthen the described by Leite Filho and Antoniali (2011). implementation of specific actions of development. Eij 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS E LQ = i (1) ERSij The study covered the delimitation of Polo 4 mate sector ERSi established by the State, located in the region of the Taquari-Antas Basin, in the northeast of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, and Eij composed of the municipalities of Anta Gorda, Arvorezinha, P(%) = (2) E Coqueiro Baixo, Doutor Ricardo, Fontoura Xavier, Ilópolis, RSi Itapuca, Nova Alvorada, Putinga, Relvado and São José do Herval. The methodology was based on the simultaneous Eij:Emplo33yment of industrial activity i in region j; Ei: Total application of descriptive and exploratory techniques, since industrial employment in region j; ERSij: Employment of it involved a case study, to diagnose the identification and industrial activity i in Rio Grande do Sul; ERSi: Total industrial characterization of the mate industrial agglomerate (cluster) employment in Rio Grande do Sul. located in the Alto Vale Taquari region. 2.2. Characterization of the mate industrial 2.1. Identification of the mate industrial agglomerate agglomerate The methodology used to characterize the industrial The comprehensiveness and classification of the mate agglomeration was based on the questionnaires of the industrial agglomerate was conducted as follows: Research Network on Local Productive and Innovative Systems (Cassiolato & Lastres, 2003b) of the Universidade 1. Annual Social Information Ratio (RAIS) data Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), in which the data was analysis – the criterion of exclusion of a municipality collected with the application of questionnaires directed to was established according to the lack of job positions companies, to address the following items: in the sectors “Manufacture of food products not specified previously” (CNAE 10694) and “Grinding 1. Company identification: size of the company, origin and manufacturing of products of plant origin not and structure of capital, number of employees; specified previously” (CNAE 10996), these being 2. Production, market and job positions: qualification the sectors related to the industrial activities of of the workforce, destiny of the sales, evolution of mate, according to the National Classification of the billing and competitive capacity; Economic Activities (CNAE 2.0). 3. Innovation, cooperation and learning: innovative efforts, 2. On-site verification of the existence of industries – as costs involved, results attributed to such an effort, activity the RAIS data refer to the year prior to the survey learning and cooperation with various agents; (2014), the existence of companies linked to the 4. Governance structure and advantages associated sector was confirmed based on consultations with to the local environment: productive structure, public institutions such as the Instituto Brasileiro governance and specific advantages; da Erva-Mate (IBRAMATE) and the SINDIMATE. 5. Public policies and forms of financing: participation Thus, the municipality in which there was no in specific action programs for the segment, promoted registration of active companies was excluded by the federal, state or municipal government or from the cluster. by other institutions. 2 Floresta e Ambiente 2020; 27(3): e20180137 Description of the Mate Industrial... 3 - 9 2.3. Sampling generation of job opportunities in the mate sector is probably greater than the official data presented. The methodology used by Barbetta (2006), according to Table 1. Number of employees linked to the industrial activity of Equations 3 and 4, was applied to perform the sampling of production of mate at pole 4 of the mate sector of Rio Grande do Sul. the mate companies in the Alto Vale Taquari region. CNAE code Municipality 10694¹ 10996² % =11 = = P(%) 22100 (3) Anta Gorda – 2 0.59 E0 01, 0 Arvorezinha 2 168 49.85 Coqueiro Baixo – – – Nn* 33 *100 n = 0 = ≅25 Doutor Ricardo 11 – 3.23 + 33 +100 (4) Nn0 Fontura Xavier – 11 3.23 Ilópolis 57 71 37.54 n0: sample intensity to reach the maximum permissible error as E ; N: population size; n: corrected sample intensity. Itapuca – 1 0.29 0 Nova Alvorada – – – Putinga – 18 5.28 Therefore, 25 mate companies were randomly selected Relvado – and interviewed, thus representing the population of this São José do Herval – – – activity in the region. The interviews were conducted on-site Rio Grande do Sul 1,601 7,020 with the owners of the industries. 1 Grinding and manufacture of products of vegetable origin not previously specified; 2 Manufacture of food