The objectives os this study were to evaluate the economic viability of managing a native savannah vegetation, submitted to six different intervention levels, considering changes in: land price, productivity level, production cost and wood price and to compare two options of using land originally covered with savannah vegetation: wood production (firewood) for energy, by managing the savannah vegetation and clearing the vegetation for eucalyptus plantation. The data were obtained in the Alvação Farm, district of Coração de Jesus-MG. The experiment was installed in an area of 30 hectares, and submitted to 6 treatments (remotion of 50%, 70%, 80%, 90% and 100% of the basal area, plus control), with 5 repetitions each. For economic evaluation, Net Present Value was used, considering an infinite planning horizon. It was concluded that the optimum economic cycle was 10 years. All the other management regimes were economically viable, except that in which 50% of the basal area was removed. Land cost is significant in the formation of the production cost of the savannah vegetation, suggesting that managing this vegetation can be more profitable in areas where land price is low; variations in productivity, production costs and wood price also affected significantly the economic viability of all management regimes. Investing in eucalyptus plantation in savannah areas to produce wood for energy is better than managing savannah vegetation only if productivity is over 45 st/ha.year.
Economic analysis; savannah; native forest; cutting cycle
