The impact of public policies in the development of local production arrangements: the case of the LPA for sheep and goat raising in Quixadá, Ceará, Brazil

This article focuses on the public policies in the development of local productive arrangements (LPAs) (in Portuguese, APLs) in the Brazilian Northeast. One of the ways the government uses to leverage the LPAs is by creating policies that support the development of such agglomerations of firms. In Brazil, these LPA stimulus policies have been consistent and their satisfactory results can be noticed. This paper presents a case study of a set of policies implemented in an APL for goat and sheep raising in Quixadá, CE, in the Brazilian Northeast. The following question oriented the study: What is the impact of the public policies implemented in the chosen LPA, in terms of local development and improvement of the subjects lives? The study adopted a qualitative approach, and the data was obtained through the analysis of documents and through interviews with 13 local social actors. It revealed that such policies had a significant impact on the farmers, improving their cattle management processes, as well as their production, resulting in significant gains for the APL's participants.