Rebanhos de pequenos ruminantes e a comercialização de peles por curtumes em Pernambuco

Abstract

The research was conducted from July to August 2018 in two tanneries located in the mesoregion of São Francisco Pernambuco, in the microregion of Itaparica (tannery I), and Petrolina (tannery II), in Pernambuco. It aimed to characterize the dynamics of the herds of goats and sheeps in Pernambuco, based on the last two agricultural censuses, as well as identifying the factors that influence the chain disruption of goats and sheeps hides and leather in Pernambuco. With regard to identifying the factors of chain disruption, the managers of two tanneries were interviewed and the following aspects were investigated: the market performance time, eventual differences in the quality of the production of past years with regards to nowadays production, the origin of the fur and of whom they are bought, the bid and ask prices of the fur and what is the biggest problem in the production chain from the perspective of the tanneries managers. It was observed that the brazilian’s northeast region holds the largest goats and sheeps herds in Brazil, that there are no links between the stages of the fur production chain and thus, there are no means of communication between animal breeders and tanneries. This implies that tanneries need to negotiate with middlemen, who buy fur from producers with whimsy prices, discouraging the care that must be taken in the creation of animals in order to avoid potential damage to its fur. With this discouragement, breeders tend to slaughter animals informally in their houses, backyards, leaving aside regularized slaughterhouses, where the fur can properly be extracted, with the use of correct techniques for the skinning. It was concluded that the main factors in the chain disruption are due to the low value in which the fur is added, the lack of incentives to the producers caused by the lack of communication with the tanneries, the illegal slaughtering due to taxes applied to slaughterhouses as well as the reducted number of existing slaughterhouses and the lack of government incentives for breeders, so it can be seen as another way to make money when raising goats and sheeps.