A pequena propriedade rural : um estudo da sustentabilidade e da percepção ambiental dos pequenos agricultores na localidade de Pacas, Município de Vitória de Santo Antão - PE

Abstract

Since the discovery of Brazil, the model of development in the country has developed from the extraction and the agriculture of subsistence for an intense agro-industrial exploration, with the application of modern technologies and, in many cases, with the occupation and disordered use of the resources of the environment, what is a risk for our rich base of natural resources. The agricultural production grew dizzily, however, the environment suffered considerable deteriorations. We still do not know how to evaluate the future consequences for the environment. On one hand, the small agriculture is responsible to set men in the field avoiding the agricultural exodus, which incurs the swelling of the periphery of the great and average cities. On the other hand, it is a concern of the scholars that this small agriculture is sustainable to make possible life in the current generations and its descendants’ fields. By this report, the aim of this research was to promote a diagnosis of the agricultural practices, through the sustainable development and the environmental perception of the small farmers from Pacas, in Vitória de Santo Antão - Pernambuco. It is about a survey, produced through a documental research and the application of questionnaires, that were selected and applied, next to the small agricultural producers, participants of Pacas small farmers association, issued in Vitória de Santo Antão city, aiming to detect aspects of agricultural support, practices executed and, at the same time, verifying the environmental perception of the familiar agricultural producers. Through this research, it is concluded that the support is limited to some agricultural practices and the perception of farmers in many other practices is not of support. Truly there is an exaggeration between the commitment with the environmental questions and the agricultural practices effectively implemented by the small farmers in Pacas. Some aspects lead to this affirmation: Intensive use of pesticide, not forested lands, intensive use of chemical fertilization instead of organic fertilization, little harvest rotation and others. Once this lack of environment commitment has compromised the production in recent years this research looked for to diagnosis and to sensetize the producers for this question in function of the importance of the locality as great supplier foods for this e region consuming and others centers, as Recife and Metropolitan Region.