Limits and possibilities for building “territories of development” in the Rio de Janeiro mountain region

This article proposes to evaluate two inter-municipal projects involving family farmers in the social construction of territories of development. Our starting point is the hypothesis that the building of this territoriality is mediated by a political culture that imposes limits and conditions territorial dynamics. The municipality of Nova Friburgo has been taken as a point of reference for the mapping of projects and/or actions that mobilize multi-functional farmers located in other municipalities of the mountainous region of the state of Rio de Janeiro. Based on a rapid characterization of the development trajectory of the chosen universe and on the problematization of the category of territory, we seek to elucidate the way in which a constitutive trait of Brazilian society – patronage and clientelism – operates within the context of family farmers’ quest for territorial construction, as social actors and as the primary beneficiaries of the public policies that have been implemented in recent times Keywords: Sustainable territorial development, public policies, family farming, clientelism