The economy of agroforestry systems in the Amazon: a critical trajectory for sustainable development (1995-2017)^*

A economia de Sistemas Agroflorestas na Amazônia: uma trajetória crítica para o desenvolvimento sustentável (1995-2017)

Abstract

The article provides an extensive, in-depth analysis of the economy of Agroforestry Systems in the Amazon using census data (1995, 2006 and 2017) and results from different primary studies. Describing the evolution in the region as a whole and in the territories of the leading peasantries, it highlights the concurrence of technological variants and its outcome. For each territory and peasantry, the fundamentals of the income variation, both in micro and macro level, are discussed, particularly the physical productivities and trade terms. The main results highlight the systematic growth of the SAF economy for two decades, with increasing net labor income and productivity in the first and constant labor income and decreasing productivity in the second. By guaranteeing greater net income from family work, the SAFs-A variant has become the most important, asserting itself, with different formats, in all territories. Economic efficiency varies across territories according to the dominance of technological variants: growing continuously where SAFs-A prevail and stagnating, or decreasing in a recent period, where SAFs-F dominate. These are strategic policy questions, which suggest urgently providing the economy of agroforestry systems with an institutional environment adjusted to their singularities.

Keywords
Agrarian Dynamic in Amazonia; Agroforestry Systems (AFS) in the Amazon Region; Peasant Economy Brazilian Amazon