Among the various oilseeds, the castor bean was identified by the National Program for Production and Use of Biodiesel, as the ideal one to promote social development in Brazil's northeast region. However the survey shows that the production of this raw material was not competitive for biodiesel production. The research is qualitative, descriptive and exploratory, and multi-case studies were used for their analysis. The instrument used for data collection was a semi-structured personal interview. Visits to production units were also conducted, which enabled data triangulation. Thus, this paper describes each driver and presents a picture of the competitiveness of both agricultural and industrial productions in this chain. The influence of each driver was evaluated using a Likert scale. The results present a clear view of the competitive segments in the analyzed agribusiness chain.
Biodiesel; Castor; Competitiveness; Family farming
