Farmers and Social Innovations in Rural Development: Collaborative Arrangements in Eastern Brazilian Amazon

Autor(es)

Futemma, Celia ^[1] ; De Castro, Fabio ^[2] ; Brondizio, Eduardo S. ^[3]

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] State Univ Campinas UNICAMP, Ctr Environm Study & Res NEPAM Campinas, Campinas, SP - Brazil

^[2] Univ Amsterdan, Ctr Latin Amer Res & Documentat CEDLA, Amsterdam - Netherlands

^[3] Ostrom Workshop, Dept Anthropol, Ctr Anal Social Ecol Landscapes, Bloomington, IN - USA

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: LAND USE POLICY; v. 99, DEC 2020.
• Citações Web of Science: 0

Resumo

Brazilian small-scale farmers are seeking new types of collaborations and economic opportunities amid a changing world. Market opportunities, however, have incurred demanding environmental, financial and labor requirements, and created trade-offs between expanding cash crops and maintaining livelihood security. We analyze the Tome-Acu region in the Brazilian Amazon, where different collaborative models between small-scale farmers and other social agents (industries, government, non-governmental organizations) have emerged. Local farmers are engaging in collective actions and pursuing different types of partnerships, which facilitate knowledge exchange and access to market niches, also helping them overcome the infrastructural and logistical deficiencies that have historically limited rural development in the region. In particular, we discuss the diffusion and adoption of agroforestry and oil palm production systems among small-scale farmers. We examine the challenges and opportunities these partnerships and social innovations have created for local farmers, who are part of heterogeneous groups with distinct roles, assets and contexts. The state-led oil palm program posed challenges to small-scale farmers who experienced asymmetrical relationships within their partnership with private companies. On the other hand, the farmer-led agroforestry model opened new opportunities for farmers who had more flexibility in deciding their production arrangements, developing new agroforestry techniques, and pursuing commercialization pathways. Despite their limited power, small-scale farmers have been able to overcome some structural barriers through innovations, entrepreneurship, and renegotiation of oil palm contract farming. Thus, their ability to engage in both farmer-led agroforestry and state-led oil palm programs provides concrete examples of the potential of local governance based on collaborative arrangements to support sustainable farming production systems. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 12/51045-1 - Oportunidades e desafios da produção de biodiesel e produção de alimentos na agricultura familiar: aspectos sociais, institucionais e ambientais
• Beneficiário: Celia Regina Tomiko Futemma
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Regular
• Processo FAPESP: 16/07756-1 - Pequenos Produtores Rurais, Gestão, Cooperação e os Sistemas Complexos Sócio-Ecológicos
• Beneficiário: Celia Regina Tomiko Futemma
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Regular
• Processo FAPESP: 18/13444-8 - Pequenos produtores rurais, gestão, cooperação e os sistemas complexos sócio-ecológicos
• Beneficiário: Nathalia Moreira dos Santos
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Programa Capacitação - Treinamento Técnico
• Processo FAPESP: 18/50041-9 - Governança da Amazônia para viabilizar transformações para a sustentabilidade
• Beneficiário: Celia Regina Tomiko Futemma
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Regular