Gathering, processing, marketing and sustainability of extractive production southwest the region Mato Grosso, Brazil

Abstract

The plant extraction is an activity carried out since the beginning of civilization, practiced by native peoples who inhabited the Brazilian territory for more than five hundred years, today many farmers settlements and rural communities develop the practice of extraction. This work aims to investigate the extractive production, with approach to management, processing, marketing and sustainability of extractive developed by family farmers in Mato Grosso Southwest region, contained in the Alto Paraguai Basin. The study was conducted between March and June 2012. We identified the mining activity of Cerrado fruits in three settlements: a) Bom Jardim / Furna São José, b) Corixo, and c) Margarida Alves, which forwarded the definition of the universe search to be 100%. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, after settlement-image letters were prepared, especially in the areas of collection via Geotechnology. We conclude that the mining production in the study area is practiced by thirty families that collect respectively babaçu (Attalea speciosa), cumbaru (Dipteryx alata), and pequi (Caryocar brasiliense) for food and to supplement income through marketing of fruit by-products the settlements themselves and via institutional market. Family farmers practice sustainable extraction, since they remove on average 14% to 34% of the fruits of the environment, leaving the rest to feed the wildlife; sustainable agricultural practices, especially for seedlings to enrich the collection areas, contributing to the regeneration of new species and population growth of native fruit trees in the region.