LOCAL KNOWLEDGES AND PRACTICES OF MANAGEMENT OF FERTILITY OF NATURAL ENVIRONMENT BETWEEN FAMILY FARMERS IN MICROREGION ALTAMIRA, PARA, BRAZIL

Abstract

Objective is to identify and analyze the socioproductives practices of family farmers in the microregion of Altamira in relation at local knowledge about the natural environment, its limitations and natural potentialities. Semi-struc­tured interviews were conducted with local mediators and with 60 families of three rural localities in the municipalities of Brasil Novo, Medicilândia and Pacajá, in addition to informal conversations and courses in agricultural establishments. In the perceptions of farmers about the transformations in nature were emphasized the relationship with the process of deforestation and the negative consequences perceived in their own family systems of pro­duction. The knowledge about the management of fertility were acquired in practice, in a process of individual and collective learning, experimentation and the perception of risks imposed by biophysical factors and production. The local knowledge of farmers on the constraints and potential of the natu­ral environment for their productive activities are the basis for the decision-making on the management practices of its elements, as well as, the presence of the perspectives to ensure or not the reproducibility of the system in the long term. Keywords: Society-nature relationship, social reproduction, transama­zon highway.