THE EMERGENCE OF NEW SOCIOPRODUCTIVE PRACTICES AND INNOVATIVE CAPACITY OF SMALL FARMERS IN AREAS OF AGRARIAN FRONTIER THE CASE OF THE REGION OF MARABÁ, IN THE EASTERN AMAZON
Résumé
The emergence of new socio-productive practices and innovative capacity of small farmers in areas of agrarian frontier : the case of the region of Marabá, in the eastern Amazon. The agrarian frontier of Maraba, in the eastern Amazon, has historically been marked by a pattern of exploitation and highly aggressive predator of the environment, a pattern linked to processes of occupation and it developed a fierce dispute between the different local actors for the possession and use of natural resources. Among the characteristics of this region, the processes of cattle raising and land concentration have been remarkable because of significant importance to take the regional dynamics and to be responsible, in large part by the expansion of the land and the steady influx of new forest areas. Although the pattern of exploitation based on the replacement of forest by pasture is still important, today is not more prevalent. The transformations that are occurring in this region over the past 15 years - many of them related to the implementation of public policies such as land reform, agricultural support and family environment, where there has been a significant emphasis in the discourse of sustainable development, and some related to the limitations imposed by the very progress of the exploitation of the natural - have led to changes in production systems practiced by farmers to experiment with alternative social and productive as to maintain its consumption and its social reproduction. The main theme intended to be treated, then, is how the innovative capacity and adaptability of farmers has contributed to the emergence of new forms of exploitation of the natural environment offering greater opportunities to remain in the land, thereby contributing to reduce the search for new areas of forest to plantations. In addition, if you want to focus on the effects that public policies have produced both as regards the introduction of new elements to stimulate the establishment of more sustainable production systems, based on diversification and integration of productive activities, and participation that has had, even if not directly, even to the adoption of practices harmful to the environment. The aim of this paper is to present and discuss the key social and productive practices currently developed by the farmers of the agrarian frontier of Maraba within this regional context of heightened concern about environmental problems and sustainability of production systems practiced. As these recent changes, originality and contribution of this article are in fact not only to identify and analyze these new practices adopted by farmers and their impacts on the environment, but the analysis is the extent to which public policies effectively contribute in the process to promote a more sustainable development, bringing some of their strengths and weaknesses to the discussion. Because this region has been a particular target for implementation of various policies of the federal government, such issues are of great importance to the debate currently in vogue in the region, mainly because they can bring relevant information to consider in the process of readjustment of certain policies, including and the credit environment, and discussion about the role of teams of technical assistance as a major player in the process of encouraging the establishment of more sustainable production systems. The data used as the basis of the article were obtained from field research carried out on 22 family farms located in four rural settlements in the region of Maraba, in the southeastern state of Para, two of them located in the former occupied area and two in area more recently occupied. The survey was made of information from interviews with semi-structured interviews with the key actors, interviews with semi-structured interviews and questionnaires with the families of farmers and from direct observation in the field. As far as one can see there is internal diversity in this region in terms of ecological and socioeconomic conditions that determine the strategies that farmers will adopt and, depending on the degree of restraint, impose such conditions, the influence of these farmers search for alternatives and productive to ensure the social functioning of their production systems. Depending on precisely this internal diversity exists, the new regional context has produced different effects and, to some extent, paradoxical. First, the current conditions that farmers have available and the learning derived from their own experiences of failure with regard to the sustainability of production systems, have led to the development of new forms of exploitation of the environment. The interesting thing is that even with a relatively greater awareness about environmental problems, compared to the past, especially considering the influence of environmental policy from the implementation of new mechanisms of restraint and greater monitoring by environmental agencies, the process of adaptation of production systems may include practices that are not necessarily less impacting the environment or represent a more lasting sustainability in the medium to long term. As in the past, concerns about preserving the environment or mitigation of impacts are still secondary to the main issue for farmers is to ensure their social reproduction. This means that to ensure that household consumption is necessary to use pesticides, for example, the farmer will use this type of subterfuge, even with some awareness of the damage by contamination that can bring him and the environment. On the other hand, especially with the policies of reform (and greater security of tenure), credit and technical assistance, insisting on the concepts of sustainability and diversification, farmers are increasingly looking to experience the diversity of their systems productive. In both cases the main purpose that guides the family is to seek opportunities that helps to ensure their social reproduction in the same land that operates today.
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