{"id":14426,"date":"2021-08-12T15:00:24","date_gmt":"2021-08-12T15:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/conexoesamazonicas.org\/?post_type=artigos&p=14426"},"modified":"2025-06-16T02:19:02","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T02:19:02","slug":"diversidade-socioagroambiental-do-campesinato-do-baixo-tocantins-pa2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/conexoesamazonicas.org\/en\/diversidade-socioagroambiental-do-campesinato-do-baixo-tocantins-pa2\/","title":{"rendered":"Socio-agro-environmental diversity of the peasantry of Baixo Tocantins-PA"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Socio-agro-environmental diversity of the peasantry of Baixo Tocantins-PA<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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12 August 2021 | Duration of reading: 8 min<\/p>

By Ana Julia Mour\u00e3o Salheb do Amaral, Am\u00e1lia Gabriela Rocha Aguiar and Paulo Fernando da Silva Martins<\/i><\/p>

Writing, reflecting and researching about the Amazon, especially about the territory of the Baixo Tocantins, is not a simple task, as in this territory there is a high complexity of connections and interactions between the various social actors and the different natural environments that show countless forms of use and management of resources. All this complexity and changes in the territory come from its historical process encouraged by public policies, through agro-industrial projects, and external and internal influences. <\/p>

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 In this text, we seek to bring the socio-agro-environmental diversity of the peasantry in the territory of Baixo Tocantins, state of Par\u00e1, focusing on traditional practices as a way of making visible and valuing these actors and their forms of use and traditional and sustainable practices of the environment (figure 1). These local subjects present themselves through a relationship of society \u2013 nature \u2013 territory that enables the expression of their particular way of life, strengthening their identity, symbology and their socio-productive practice. Interactions with forests, rivers, streams and boreholes create a complex network of connections that modifies and nurtures the dynamics of the way of life of these local subjects. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Figure 1. Socio-agro-environmental diversity of the peasantry of Baixo Tocantins
Source: authors, field research.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Figure 2 shows the Lower Tocantins Territory, which has 11 municipalities: Abaetetuba, Acar\u00e1, Limoeiro do Ajuru, Moju, Thailand, Barcarena, Bai\u00e3o, Camet\u00e1, Igarap\u00e9-Miri, Mocajuba and Oeiras do Par\u00e11 which corresponds to 43, 1% of the area of the northeastern Par\u00e1 mesoregion, totaling approximately 36 thousand km\u00b2 (see the 'Rural Sustainable Development Plan of the Baixo Tocantins' here<\/a>This territory, since the colonial period, has been an occupation space for production\/extraction, to the detriment of environmental conservation\/preservation (see more here<\/a>). The region is highly populated, and has extensive altered areas, including the floodplain areas that have recently undergone a process of productive intensification due to the high demand for the a\u00e7a\u00ed fruit. All products sold are transported by land or by rivers, which are particularly important due to their extensive hydrographic network, formed by many branches of rivers and streams.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Figure 2. Location of the territory of Baixo Tocantins (PA).
Source: Sociagro-environmental Diversity Study Group in the Amazon (2018).<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 In Baixo Tocantins, the market economy has been pressing the production systems of rural families towards a technological and innovative change based on the introduction of new food and forestry cultures without even proposing sufficient technical and financial assistance for maintenance and production costs. An example is the implementation of the cultivation of palm oil for the extraction of vegetable oil, encouraged by the National Program for the Production and Use of Biodiesel (PNPB) from the 2000s onwards. These elements enable a new (re)reading of the territory, inducing or making visible the pluriactivity of the local population, especially river dwellers, quilombolas, family farmers and those dealing with extractivism.
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 The territory is crossed by the Tocantins river, responsible for an important part of the estuary in the eastern part of the Amazon and which joins the Par\u00e1 river and the Guam\u00e1 river, forming the Guajar\u00e1 bay3. In this territory, the inhabitants experience different dynamics of ways of life in two distinct environments: the terra firme where cassava is predominantly cultivated for the production of flour and the floodplain on the islands where a\u00e7a\u00ed stands out as the main production with the presence also of buritizaes, among other forest and food species as identified in the community of Manoel Raimundo in the municipality of Camet\u00e1 in a Master's dissertation research (Link<\/a>).
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 In another Master's dissertation (Link<\/a>), it was possible to evidence rhythms of life imposed by the environment, in which a dichotomy was created between floodplain and terra firme environments linked to the time of nature and the dynamics of local populations, especially in the microbasin of Aricur\u00e1, in the municipality of Camet\u00e1, PAN. In Figure 3, it is possible to observe the calendar of the main productive activities in this microbasin, which has two communities, Aricur\u00e1 located in a lowland environment and the Aj\u00f3 community located in an upland and lowland environment. In these places there is a productive diversity and seasonality of activities shaped according to the environment and the variation of the climatic period throughout the months of the year. Thus, it is possible to observe an economic alternativity between the different productions, that is, when one economic activity presents decline, another one stands out and in this way they complement each other.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Figure 3. Calendar of management and use in productive activities. Source: Amaral (2018).<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Thus, the way of living of the peasants in the Amazon comes from their knowledge of the use and management of natural resources, a result not only of a process of socioeconomic adaptation of the present biodiversity, but also of their cultural history built from their past experiences between generations and their intimate relationship with nature (according to research by the UFPA-GEDAF research group, see more here<\/a>)<\/span>Thus, the degrees of relationship with nature in the Amazonian environment vary depending on the influences of historical, social, political and economic circumstances, so as to form this socio-agro-environmental diversity of the Amazonian peasantry reflected in the different ways of life and production practices in part portrayed in this text in the communities of Manoel Raimundo, Aricur\u00e1 and Aj\u00f3, located in the municipality of Camet\u00e1, state of Par\u00e1. <\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Science is done collaboratively<\/strong><\/p>

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 The results presented in this text are part of the research by Am\u00e1lia Gabriela Rocha Aguiar (2016) (see link below) and Ana Julia Mour\u00e3o Salheb do Amaral (2018) (see link below) and oriented by Prof. Dr. Paulo Martins (INEAF\/ UFPA) and co-supervised by Professors Dr. Aquiles and Sim\u00f5es (NUMA\/ UFPA) and Dr. S\u00f4nia Magalh\u00e3es (INEAF\/ UPFA), respectively. Both were carried out within the scope of the Master's course in Family Farming and Sustainable Development at the Amazon Institute of the Federal University of Par\u00e1. It is also part of the research of the Sociagro-environmental Diversity Study Group in the Amazon (GEDAF\/ linked to the Environmental Center of the Federal University of Par\u00e1) which also provided technical and financial support. This research had the financial support of the federal government through a CNPq master's scholarship.<\/p>

Want to know more? Access the links below!<\/strong><\/p>

MINIST\u00c9RIO DO DESENVOLVIMENTO AGR\u00c1RIO. Plano Territorial de Desenvolvimento Rural Sustent\u00e1vel \u2013 Territ\u00f3rio da Cidadania Baixo Tocantins. (Link<\/a>).<\/p>

ALMEIDA, R. Amaz\u00f4nia, Par\u00e1 e o mundo das \u00e1guas do Baixo Tocantins. Estudos Avan\u00e7ados. 2010, v. 24, n. 68, p. 291-298. (Link<\/a>).<\/p>

SOUZA, Armando L\u00edrio de. Desenvolvimento territorial rural e a din\u00e2mica da agricultura familiar no Baixo Tocantins (PA). Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte. Porto Alegre, 2011. (Link<\/a>).<\/p>

AGUIAR, A. G. R. Manejo de popula\u00e7\u00e3o de a\u00e7aizeiro (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) em parcelas de produ\u00e7\u00e3o de frutos em \u00e1reas de v\u00e1rzea. 2016. 93 f. Disserta\u00e7\u00e3o (mestrado) – Universidade Federal do Par\u00e1, N\u00facleo de Ci\u00eancias Agr\u00e1rias e Desenvolvimento Rural, Programa de P\u00f3s-Gradua\u00e7\u00e3o em Agriculturas Amaz\u00f4nicas, Bel\u00e9m, 2016. (Link<\/a>).<\/p>

AMARAL, A. J. M. S. (2018). V\u00e1rzea ou terra firme? A (re) produ\u00e7\u00e3o do sistema fam\u00edlia-estabelecimento na microbacia do Aricur\u00e1 \u2013 Camet\u00e1 \u2013 PA. 2018. 148 p. Disserta\u00e7\u00e3o (Mestrado em Agriculturas Amaz\u00f4nicas) \u2013 Universidade Federal do Par\u00e1, Embrapa Amaz\u00f4nia Oriental, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient\u00edfico e Tecnol\u00f3gico, Bel\u00e9m. (Link<\/a>).\u00a0<\/p>

SIM\u00d5ES, A.; BENASSULY, M. (org.). Na v\u00e1rzea e na terra firme: transforma\u00e7\u00f5es socioambientais e reinven\u00e7\u00f5es camponesas. Bel\u00e9m: NUMA\/UFPA, p. 368, 2017. (Link<\/a>)<\/p>

SIM\u00d5ES, A.; RODRIGUES, E. T.; ROCHA, G. M.; GRANCHAMP, L. (org.). Reinven\u00e7\u00f5es territoriais: diversidade e aprendizagens sociais. 1. ed. Bel\u00e9m: NUMA\/UFPA. p. 298, 2019.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Ana Julia Mour\u00e3o Salheb do Amaral is an agronomist (UFRA), master in family farming and sustainable development (UFPA), doctoral student in rural development (UFRGS). <\/span>She is also a researcher<\/span>in the Socio-agro-environmental Diversity Study Group in the Amazon (GEDAF\/ NUMA\/ UFPA). Email: <\/span>anaagro4@gmail.com<\/span><\/a>. See more on Lattes platform<\/a> <\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Am\u00e1lia Gabriela Rocha Aguiar is an agronomist (UFRA), master in family farming and sustainable development (UFPA), doctoral student in rural development (UFRGS). <\/span>She is also a researcher<\/span>in the Socio-agro-environmental Diversity Study Group in the Amazon (GEDAF\/ NUMA\/ UFPA). Email: <\/span>agr.aguiar@gmail.com<\/span><\/a>. See more on plataforma lattes.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Paulo Fernando da Silva Martins is an Agronomist (UFRA), Doctor in Agronomy (Esalq\/USP), Professor at the Amazon Institute of Family Agriculture (INEAF\/UFPA). <\/span>She is also a researcher<\/span>in the Socio-agro-environmental Diversity Study Group in the Amazon (GEDAF\/ NUMA\/ UFPA). Email: <\/span>pfsm@ufpa.br<\/span><\/a>. See more on Lattes platform<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Leia tamb\u00e9m<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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