Land cover evolution of small farms: the Transamazon highway.

• Autor(a) principal: WALKER, R. T.
• Data de Publicação: 1997
• Outros Autores: HOMMA, A. K. O., SCATENA, F. N., CONTO, A. J. de, RODRIGUEZ-PEDRAZZA, C. D., FERREIRA, C. A. P., OLIVEIRA, P. M. de, CARVALHO, R. de A.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da EMBRAPA (Repository Open Access to Scientific Information from EMBRAPA - Alice)
• Texto Completo: http://www.alice.cnptia.embrapa.br/alice/handle/doc/1122301
• topic: Transamazônica; Transamazon; Domestic cycle; Amazonian; Ciclo de Vida; Desmatamento; Pequeno Produtor; Uso da Terra; Amazonia; deforestation; land use; small farms

The dynamics of land use change in both the mid and long-run were determined for a sample of 132 small farmers located along the Transamazon Highway. On average, four deforestation events occurred after arrival on the property. The average area of deforested land was 10 hectares for each event, totaling 40 of the 50 hectares allowed by law for a typical size plot of 100 hectares. It was observed that small farmers along the Transamazon Highway employ diversified systems of land use including annual crops, perennials and cattle; these show a temporal sequence in accord with household domestic cycles. These results suggest that pasture conversion in Amazon by small farmers is due to domestic dynamics cycle in addition to others variables.