Análise da sustentabilidade da agricultura familiar na produção de tangerina no município de Matinhas, Paraíba

Abstract

In order to discuss the sustainable development and the development of sustainability indices for family farms through social participation, this paper was thought. We can say that modifying habits and attitudes to live in a sustainable way is a challenge. It is believed that sustainable family farming is possible. This study aims to analyze the family farm sustainability of tangerina in Matinhas, Paraíba, Northeast of Brazil. This research is based on the IDAS model, methodology applied by Tavares (2004), which analyzes sustainability of the systems, through social participation. We tried to understand and characterize the family farm of the town through the exploratory and descriptive methodology, with a quantitative and qualitative nature, applying the statistical techniques for the Index calculation. Data collection was conducted through questionnaires and non-participant observation. For the calculation and interpretation, the Statistical Package for Social Sciences for Windows (SPSS) and the Microsoft Excel 2007 tool was used. The study in Matinhas made possible the developing of a sustainability index for the twenty-two properties. Considering the 22 systems analyzed, only one was considered an optimal sustainability index. The others received index ranging from poor to good. It was found that the existence of certain critical points (as the absence of policies to encourage small farmers, socioeconomic conditions and incipient biodiversity existent in the locality) indicate an unsustainable farming community.