Social issue, rural poverty, and intersectorality: challenges of an incipient construction

Abstract

This article aims to discuss the challenges and perspectives of intersectorality in tackling rural poverty, as one of the expressions of the social issue. Thus, it contextualizes rural poverty in the Brazilian reality in light of the advancement of agribusiness with production focused heavily on the foreign market. It also highlights intersectorality as a field in dispute and a possible path for the construction of collective strategies from the perspective of guaranteeing rights. This is a qualitative study, based on a theoretical-bibliographical review and participant observation resulting from professional experience in rural areas. It presupposes the recognition of intersectorality as a component of social assistance networks and as beneficial in structuring strategies to face social issues in rural areas, which manifest themselves in a multifaceted way. They are based on the capital-labor contradiction and demand articulated action to mitigate them. It is considered that the perception of rural poverty as a natural phenomenon and/or the result of the ineptitude of individuals “in agriculture” must be overcome, as it is a socio-historical process.