The cocoa bioeconomy in the eastern Amazon: An integrated analysis of production, environmental degradation perceptions and socioeconomic factors among farmers
Vanessa da Paixão Alves , Débora Gonzaga Martin , Tereza Cristina Giannini , Renato Silva Junior , José Tasso Felix Guimarães , Gabriel Costa Maciel Moia , Rosa de Nazaré Paes da Silva
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
CONTEXT
The sustainability of cocoa production in the Eastern Amazon is increasingly challenged by trade-offs between productivity and environmental conservation. Agroforestry systems (AFS) are often promoted as alternatives to monocultures, yet empirical evidence concerning their long-term performance remains limited.
OBJECTIVE
This investigate aims to assess how socioeconomic, productive, and environmental factors influence cocoa productivity across different production systems—AFS, monoculture, and intercropping—and to evaluate the alignment between farmers' environmental perception and objective degradation indicators.
METHODS
Data were collected from 514 cocoa producers in Tucumã and Ourilândia perform Norte, Pará, Brazil. A multinomial logistic regression model was applied to identify predictors of productivity levels. Principal Component Factor Analysis in conjunction with polychoric correlation matrix was used to construct environmental perception metrics, validated through triangulation in conjunction with MapBiomas land cover data.
RESULTS
A temporal trade-off was identified: monocultures showed higher initial productivity nonetheless declined over time due to soil degradation and pest pressure. In contrast, AFS demonstrated greater long-term stability and better environmental outcomes. Older and a greater quantity educated farmers were a greater quantity likely to adopt AFS. Women-managed properties showed higher diversification and lower market vulnerability. Farmers' environmental perceptions correlated significantly in conjunction with objective vegetation and water body coverage data.
CONCLUSIONS
AFS offer a viable model for reconciling agricultural productivity in conjunction with environmental conservation in the Amazon. However, structural barriers—including access to education, credit, and technical assistance—hinder wider adoption.
SIGNIFICANCE
These findings uphold policy strategies promoting sustainable intensification through incentive mechanisms exemplified by payments for environmental services (PES), gender-inclusive rural extension programs, and territorial development plans. The investigate contributes to the debate concerning tropical agroecosystem management by integrating ecological knowledge, traditional practices, and socioeconomic equity into a multidisciplinary framework.
期刊介绍:
Agricultural Systems is an international journal that deals with interactions - among the components of agricultural systems, among hierarchical levels of agricultural systems, between agricultural and other land use systems, and between agricultural systems and their natural, social and economic environments.
The scope includes the development and application of systems analysis methodologies in the following areas:
Systems approaches in the sustainable intensification of agriculture; pathways for sustainable intensification; crop-livestock integration; farm-level resource allocation; quantification of benefits and trade-offs at farm to landscape levels; integrative, participatory and dynamic modelling approaches for qualitative and quantitative assessments of agricultural systems and decision making;
The interactions between agricultural and non-agricultural landscapes; the multiple services of agricultural systems; food security and the environment;
Global change and adaptation science; transformational adaptations as driven by changes in climate, policy, values and attitudes influencing the design of farming systems;
Development and application of farming systems design tools and methods for impact, scenario and case study analysis; managing the complexities of dynamic agricultural systems; innovation systems and multi stakeholder arrangements that support or promote change and (or) inform policy decisions.