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农业

SUSTAINABLEAGRICULTURALPRACTICESINRONDÔNIA,BRAZIL:

DoLocalFarmerOrganizationsImpactAdoptionRates?

JillL.Caviglia-Harris

DepartmentofEconomicsandFinance

SalisburyUniversity

Salisbury,Maryland218016860

jlcaviglia-harris@salisbury.edu

JELClassification:

Q0,Q1,Q2

SUSTAINABLEAGRICULTURALPRACTICESINRONDÔNIA,BRAZIL:

DoLocalFarmerOrganizationsImpactAdoptionRates?

Abstract

Sincethe1960s,migrationtotheBrazilianAmazonhassignificantlyincreasedpopulationanddeforestationlevelsintheregion.Becausesettlersdonottypicallyemployecologicallysoundfarmingmethods,sustainablealternativeshavebeenpromotedbyregional,nationalandinternationalorganizationstoreducedeforestation.ThispapermodelstheadoptionofsustainableagriculturalpracticesbyhouseholdsinOuroPretodoOeste,Rondônia,Brazilusingpaneldatacollectedin1996and2000*,andteststherelationbetweentheuseofsustainablemethodsofagricultureanddeforestation.Theimpactofalocalfarmerorganizationthatpromotestheuseofagroforestry,apiculture,andpiscicultureisalsoinvestigated.Theempiricalresultssuggestthattheadoptionofsustainablepracticesisgreatlyinfluencedbyvariablesthatindicate,orarerelatedto,thedisseminationofinformationsuchasparticipationincooperatives,knowledgeofsustainableagricultureandaccesstomarkets.Inaddition,itisfoundthatfamiliesthathaveaccesstoloansaremorelikelytoadoptsustainablemethodsoffarmingandthattheuseofagroforestry,apiculture,andpisciculturereduceshouseholddeforestationlevels.

*The2000datacollectionwassupportedbytheNationalScienceFoundationGrant:

SES-0076549.The1996-1997datacollectionwassupportedbygrantsfromtheNationalSecurityEducationProgram,theOrganizationofAmericanStates,theInstitutefortheStudyofWorldPolitics,andtheMcClureFundFoundation.

SUSTAINABLEAGRICULTURALPRACTICESINRONDÔNIA,BRAZIL:

DoLocalFarmerOrganizationsImpactAdoptionRates?

I.Introduction

FortyyearsaftertheintroductionofgovernmentsettlementprogramstotheAmazonbasinofBrazil,thestatesofRondônia,Acre,Pará,andMatoGrossoarenowlargelypopulatedbycolonistfarmersandranchers（Laurenceetal.2001）.Thesemigrantsdonottypicallyemployecologicallysoundfarmingandranchingmethodsandasaresult,deforestationhasprogressedatrelativelyhighrates（AlmeidaandUhl1995,MattosandUhl1994,ToniloandUhl1995）.Inordertoslowtropicaldeforestation,agroforestry,intercropping,andothersustainablemethodsoffarminghavebeenpromotedbyresearchersasalternativestothepracticesofmigratoryfarmers（MahapatraandMitchell2001,Smithetal.1996,Nair1990）.However,theadoptionofthesemethodsbyAmazonianmigrantshasbeenslow.

Theslowrateofadoptionisnotuniquetosustainableagriculturalsystems,butiscommonintheadoptionofnewtechnologiesinthefarmingsectorofdevelopingcountries.Forexample,studiesontheadoptionofsustainablepracticesandadvancedfarmingsystemshavefoundthattheadoptionofthesetechnologieshasrarelymetthepointofrapiddiffusionbecauseofimperfectinformation,capitaland/orincomeconstraints,marketfailures,andotherreasons（CavigliaandKahn2001,CairnesandGarrity1999,Nelsonetal.1995,Holden1993,AdesinaandZinnah1993,Kebedeetal.1990,AkinolaandYoung1985,FederandSlade1984）.Evenso,researchersfeelthattheseobstaclescanbeovercomeandthattheadoptionofthesepracticeswillbenefitlocalfarmerssincelong-runincomebenefitshavebeenshowntooutweightheshort-termcostsofadoption,implyingthatadoptionisunlikelytooccuratcurrentdiscountrates（AlmeidaandUhl1995）.

Usingdatacollectedin1996and2000,thisstudymodelsthechoicebetweenthetechnologiesofslash-and-burnandalternativeagriculturalpracticeswithfarm-levelsurveydatacollectedinOuroPretodoOeste,Rondônia,Brazilandteststherelationbetweentheuseofsustainableagriculturalsystemsandhouseholddeforestationlevels.Thisstudyisuniqueinthatituseslongitudinal,orpanel,datatoinvestigatedynamichouseholddecisionmaking,land-usechoices,andhowthesehouseholdchoicesareinfluencedbytrendsinagriculturalmarketsandothercommunitylevelchangesovertime.Sincetheadoptionofsustainablemanagementpracticeshasbeenslowinthisregion,empiricalresultsareusedtomakerecommendationsastohowpolicycaninfluencetheadoptionofsustainableagriculturalpracticesandtodetermineifthisagriculturaltechniqueishelpingtoslowdeforestationintheAmazon.

2.StudySite:

OuroPretodoOeste,Rondônia

ThedatausedinthisstudywerecollectedintheOuroPretodoOesteregionofRondônialocatedalongBR-364,themajorhighwayrunningnorth-souththroughthecenterofthestate（Figure1）.TheOurodoOesteregioniscomprisedofsixmunicipalities:

OuroPretodoOeste,ValedoParaíso,Urupá,MirantedaSerra,NovaUnião,andTeixeirópolis.Thesemunicipalitiesmakeupaboutsevenpercentofthestate'spopulationandaremostlyrural（Table1）.

AmajorityofthedeforestationinRondôniaistheresultofslash-and-burnagricultureinitiatedinthisregionduringthe1960sand1970sthroughthegovernmentsettlementprogram,OperationAmazonia.ThissettlementprogramincludedthecreationoftheCuiabá-PortoVelhointerstatehighway（BR-364）thattravelsthroughtheheartofthestatelinkingRondôniatothesouthern,morepopulated,regionofthecountry.MigrationcontinuedwiththeNorthwestBrazilianIntegratedDevelopmentProgram（POLONOROESTE）intheearly1980s.Thisprogram,fundedbytheWorldBank,wasprimarilyconceivedtopavethenewlycreatedBR-364（Brown2001）.Asexpected,migrationtoRondôniacontinuedtoincreasewiththisprojectand,asaresult,therateofdeforestationincreasedfrom65,534km2in1988to79,702km2（or27%ofthestate）by1996（Anderson1993,Goldenberg1992,Diógenes1999）.

Basedonpastresults,migrationanddeforestationarelikelytocontinueatrapidrateswiththenewdevelopmentplanAvançaBrasil（AdvanceBrazil）.TheplanhasbeenproposedbytheBraziliangovernmenttoadvanceeconomicdevelopmentintheregionthroughinvestmentinnewhighways,railroads,gasandpowerlines,andhydroelectricprojectsandthroughtheupgradingofthecurrentroadnetwork.Laurenceetal.（2001）predictthattheBrazilianAmazonwillbedrasticallyalteredbythisgovernmentplan,especiallyinstatesthatarecurrentlypopulatedbyrelativelylargenumberofmigrants,likeRondônia.Theauthorsbelievethatifviablealternativestothedevelopmentplanareignored,suchasintensiveagriculturaluseofperennialcropsinagroforestryplots,thatcurrentratesofdeforestationmaybesurpassed.

3.SustainableAgriculturalandManagementPracticesintheTropics

CurrentfarmingpracticesofthetypicalcolonistfarmerinOuroPretodoOesteincludethecultivationofmanioc,rice,coffee,cornandbeansusingslash-and-burntechniques,afterlimitedornonexistentfallowperiods（Caviglia1999,Fujisakaetal.1998）.Agriculturallandisoftenconvertedtopastureafterthreetofiveyears.Theimplicationsofthisland-usetrendareevidentwhentherecommendedfallowperiodoftenyearsisconsidered（AlmeidaandUhl1995）.Sincethisfallowperiodisrarelyfollowed,muchofthelandusedforagricultureandpastureisrenderedagriculturallyuselessaftertenyears.Intheshortrunthisisnotdetrimentaltomanycolonistfarmers.Sincetheyweregivenlotsofupto225hectaresinthe1970sand1980s,theycanmoveontoanotherportionoftheirlandascropsandpasturefail.

Althoughmostfarmerspracticeslash-and-burntechniques,somedopracticemethodsoffarmingmoreconsistentwithtropicalsoillimitationsandindigenouspractices,includingagroforestryandintercropping.Thenatureofagroforestrydiffersbetweentropicalregionsbecauseofsite-specificlandusageandsoillimitations.Evenso,afewgeneralcharacteristicsofagroforestryandintercroppingsystemshavebeendeveloped.Thesecharacteristicsincludethecombinationoftreeswithcropsand/oranimalsonthesameland,theproductionofmultipleoutputswithprotectionofthesoilsandland,theintegrationofindigenousknowledgeandmethods,andastructuralcomplexitymoreadvancedthanmonoculture（Nair1990）.Inaddition,naturalprocessessuchasnutrientcycling,nitrogenfixation,soilregenerationandpestcontrolcanbeintegratedintothefarmingsystemwhenagroforestryisemployed（PrettyandHine2000）.

Thesustainableactivitiesthatareinvestigatedinthispaperincludeagroforestry,apiculture（theharvestofhoneyonthefarmlot）andpisciculture（raisingoffishonthelot）.Theharvestofhoneyandfishareincludedinthisdefinitionbecausetheproductionandtradeofthesecrops（notincludedinanagroforestrysystem）providesanincomesourcethatcansubstituteforincomefromproductslinkedtodeforestation.Inaddition,theseactivitiesarepromotedbytheAssociationofAlternativeProducers（APA）inOuroPretodoOeste,afarmingcooperativefoundedtoeducatefarmersaboutsustainableactivitiesandmarkettheseproducts.Theimpactofthisorganizationontheadoptionoftheseactivitiesandhowthisadoptionrelatedtodeforestationisanimportantaspectofthisanalysis.

Itshouldbenotedthathoneyproductionmaynotalwayspromoteforestconservationsinceafarmermaycompletelydeforesthislotandcontinuetobeasuccessfulhoneycollectorifhisneighborhasasignificantnumberoffloweringtress.Inaddition,Brown（2001）statesthatmanyofthebeesthatinhabittheAmazonhavebeen