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In the Amazon agricultural is a major driver of deforestation and losses of biodiversity.. Understanding farm trajectories may provide insights into new pathways for the development of sustainable territories.
This research conducted in the pioneer fronts of Guaviare and Paragominas aims to explore the contributions of different farm trajectories to the establishment of sustainable territories. We emphasize the significant role of family work group dynamics, of women and agroecological principles in shaping farm trajectories and fostering territory sustainability.
Patches within the study sites were selected based on spatial factors such as land use, roads, settlements, and forest transition status (conservation, regeneration, degradation, and deforestation), as well as trades off between agricultural development and environmental conservation identified through interviews with key informants. Drawing from existing literature on farm trajectories in the Amazon Forest and key informant interviews, we constructed six archetypes representing the possible farm trajectories in the study sites and that correspond to most common trajectory patterns (e.g. substance slash and burn, pasture intensification in beef cattle, cattle in land expansion). Through a snowball sampling technique, we conducted 55 semi-directed interviews with both male and female farmers.
We found three additional archetypes highlighting ongoing shifts in trajectory patterns, influenced by factors such as local markets and land propriety rights. Our findings also revealed that farm trajectories limiting forest degradation or deforestation are found in farms presenting financial constraints or with aged farmers. In patches with favorable territorial conditions, such as accessible roads and supportive public policies, the first phases of trajectories are always associated to deforestation. However, in later stages of farm trajectories farmers tend to use agroecological principles while some of them kept on deforesting
Bifurcations within work groups such as separations, illnesses or deaths of the heads of the family are were a driver of the observed trajectories, however, change of the number of family members did not affected trajectories. Women play a fundamental role in stable trajectories, by performing most of the agricultural tasks performed by men, by participating to the management of the farm and through their off-farm activities. Our findings indicate that women who are alone tend to be in an unstable phase of their farm trajectory.
This study provides valuable insights into the complex interactions between farm trajectories, forest transition, and sustainability in pioneer fronts.
Past and present farm trajectory patterns should be discussed in order to analyze the extent to which sustainable farm pathways can be built in the future.
| Keywords | farm trajectory; agroecology; women role; deforestation; bifurcation |
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