Social-economic development and sugar cane agro-industry in Paraná state

Abstract

Before the controversy that the existence of sugar cane agro-industry in a determined city implies (or not) social-economic development for this place, this article seeks to show which is the status of development in the city that possesses the sugar cane agro-industry – this activity being its driving force –, having as base the construction of a Socioeconomic Development Index (IDS). The presented corollary is the existence of heterogeneity of different realities among the cities investigated and among the cities themselves, based on the elucidative factors. Therefore, sugar cane plants and/or distilleries coexist in cities that have good ranking in terms of IDS, in the same way that their presence is verified in cities with precarious socioeconomic situation.