Sistematização da experiência participativa com sistemas agroflorestais: rumo à sustentabilidade da agricultura familiar na Zona da Mata mineira

• Autor(a) principal: Souza, Helton Nonato de
• Data de Publicação: 2006
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: LOCUS Repositório Institucional da UFV
• Texto Completo: http://locus.ufv.br/handle/123456789/5536
• topic: Sistemas agroflorestais; Mata Atlântica; Agricultura familiar; Agroforestry systems; Native forest; Mata Atlântica; Family agriculture; CNPQ::CIENCIAS AGRARIAS::AGRONOMIA::CIENCIA DO SOLO

Family agriculture is predominant in the Zona da Mata of Minas Gerais. Principal land use is pasture and coffee, very often intercropped with subsistence cultures such as maize, beans, cassava, etc. The family agriculture in the region faces various social and environmental problems, such as soil erosion, loss of natural fertility, reduced quality and quantity of the water. To search for solutions based on agroecology, partnerships were established among local institutions, such as the Rural Labours Unions STRs and the Center for Alternative Technologies of the Zona da Mata CTA/ZM and the Soil Department of the Federal University of Viçosa - DPS/UFV. In 1993, the union, CTA-ZM and university carried out a Participatory Rural Appraisal PRA in Araponga-MG. During the PRA a participatory experimentation with agroforestry systems - AF was suggested, which started in 1994. Through integration of unions, farmers from other municipalities were incorporated in the process and some of them implemented AFs on their properties as well. From 2003 to 2005 the experience was systemized in order to explain the results reached and the lessons learned during the experimentation, allowing thus the construction of a new knowledge, needed for the strengthening of the family agriculture and the consolidation of agroecological proposals. Eighteen experimenting farmers participated in the systematization process. The method applied consisted of visits to the properties, semi-structured interviews, and meetings with CTA s staff, farmers, researchers, professors and students of the UFV. Techniques from PRA, such as maps, institutional diagrams and flow analyses were used. Scientific data, mainly concerning to the soil, were compiled, synthesized and discussed with the farmers. The experimentation generated a complexity of designs and of management forms among the different systems, used to refine the designs and management of the systems. Main criteria for the introduction and withdrawal of tree species from the systems were tree compatibility with coffee. The main indicators for the compatibility were a good phytosanitary aspect of the coffee, a deep root system of the tree species, the biomass production, the work load and the diversification of the production. Around 82 tree species, mostly natives, were used in the AFs, around 12 species for each experiment besides coffee. The area managed ranged from 1.000 m² and 5.000 m². Among the species used are the avocado (Persea sp), the açoita-cavalo (Luehea speciosa ), the banana (Musa sp), the capoeira-branca (Solanum argenteum), the eritrina (Erythrina sp), the fedegoso (Senna macranthera), the ingá (Inga vera), the ipê-preto (Zeyheria tuberculosa ) and the papagaio (Aegiphila sellowiana ). The angico (Annadenanthera peregrina ) and the jacaré (Piptadenia gonocantha) were rejected due to competition with the coffee. The organic matter and number of mycorrhizal spores in depth increased in the systems; the exchangeable acidity of the soil decreased, reducing the necessity of lime. The soil erosion was less in the AFs than in the conventional systems. The systematization of the experiments contributed to a collective reflection, the incorporation of the newly learned lessons and the promotion of exchange experiences concerning AFs, agroecology and sustainable management of the soil and family agriculture.