The overall objective of the study was to analyse the Forest Dwelling Systems in the Terra Firme and Várzea communities and to investigate the conditions under which the different activities are allocated across households. In this study, the Farming System Approach facilitates a holistic examination of the Forest Dwelling Household System. This study broadly analyses the importance of natural products and their role as consumption and as goods for cash income for forest dwellers. By focusing on the functions of those products, their role within the Forest Dweller System must be examined. There have been identified differences between the Terra Firme (upland) and Várzea (floodplain) ecosystems management and production systems that are still ignored by decision makers. The study area was identified based on certain criteria: a) accessibility to the area (field support), b) availability of the forest production and, c) ecosystem (Terra Firme and Várzea communities). The survey was conducted in one community at the Terra Firme region (Itacoã) and in three communities at the Várzea region (Monte Tabor, Nova Santa Cruz, Manoel Carneiro). In selecting the households, the dependence on extraction of forest resources as the principal source of income was used as the major criteria, and part-time households were excluded from the studies. In order to obtain data on the structure of the entire Forest Dwelling Household System, productive activities within the house garden, cropping and forest extraction, financial and marketing aspects, were analyzed in 60 households (48 in Terra Firme and 12 in Várzea communities). Data concerning demography, socio-cultural aspects, labour force, land tenure were also gathered and analyzed. For this purpose households and key informants were interviewed with the use of a semi-structured questionnaire; participative observation was carried out and market research was executed. The households live basically to sustenance. A purely subsistence oriented family can only be identified as such if its production objectives are merely meant to fulfil subsistence needs. The type of forest dwelling household system existing in the region is strongly marked by small-scale production; the involvement of unpaid family workers in the production process; the combination of the incomes earned from on-, out- and off-farm activities and, to a limited extent, these households live under the threat of poverty. According to the results of the household financial analysis it could be stated that the main financial characteristics of households are the following: a) they are poor and have little ready cash; b) loans to them are usually unavailable; c) they are conscious of an uncertain environment, of cash shortage, and of household responsibilities and therefore are risk-averse; d) they often suffer cyclical labour shortage and under-employment; e) they are economically rational but not necessary profit maximising because they have their own scales of utility. The results of the analysis led to one priority goal, ranked as such by all the households, which was to satisfy the family?s sustenance, namely to supply sufficient food and provide housing for the family at all times. Only when food supply is guaranteed households will think of how to generate cash from their farm, in order to satisfy other needs which are part of an improved standard of living. Commercializing production does not come as a desire to maximize profit, but rather a need to generate cash income for subsistence purposes.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:24441 |
| Date | 30 January 2004 |
| Creators | Machado dos Santos, Wandreia Natalina |
| Contributors | Uibrig, Holm, Tourinho, Manoel, Pokorny, Benno |
| Publisher | Technische Universität Dresden |
| Source Sets | Hochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | doc-type:doctoralThesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesis, doc-type:Text |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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