AGROFORESTERÍA CON CAFETALES EN EL ESTADO DE ESPÍRITO SANTO, BRASIL: UNA APROXIMACIÓN A LA TRANSICIÓN HACIA UN SISTEMA SOSTENIBLE

Eduardo Sales (1) , Ernesto Méndez (2) , Francisco Caporal (3)

1 INCAPER - Instituto Capixaba de Pesquisa, Assistência Técnica e Extensão Rural
2 University of Vermont [Burlington]
3 Ministry of Agrarian Development

The Espirito Santo State is located in the southeastern region of Brazil. The country´s Atlantic Forest vegetation covered most of its territory, but due to human actions, it has been reduced to only 8% of the original forest size. These consequences have a historical background beginning with the Portuguese colonization and continuing with the development of monocultures. This situation still continues today due to the conventional model that leads to socio-environmental degradation in modern agriculture. This has led to a search for alternative farming systems. Coffee production is an activity of great social and economic importance with a long history of unshaded coffee farming in this region. Family farming is predominant in the area, and coffee agroforestry systems could be an option that supports the transition towards agroecological farm management. Since the 90s, there have been some studies and workshops on agroforestry systems in the region, and some agroforestry units were implemented through nongovernmental organizations and government institutions. Although the results were not fully satisfactory, some farmers planted multiple use and timber species in their coffee in order to produce additional income. In 2004, three trials were established to test how each of these species could be associated with coffee. Thus, these coffee agroforestry systems could be part of a successful public policy that could favor the spread of these systems by increasing the diversity of species in the environment, and improving the socioeconomic situation of the region.

Mots clés: ecosystem services; shade coffee plantation; family farms

Domaines: Agriculture, économie et politique

Eduardo Sales, Ernesto Méndez, Francisco Caporal. AGROFORESTERÍA CON CAFETALES EN EL ESTADO DE ESPÍRITO SANTO, BRASIL: UNA APROXIMACIÓN A LA TRANSICIÓN HACIA UN SISTEMA SOSTENIBLE. ISDA 2010, Jun 2010, Montpellier, Francia. 8 p. ⟨hal-00522956⟩