Growing of black pepper by small farmers in the city of Capitão Poço, PA, Brazil

Abstract

The objective of this work was to conduct a study on the cultivation of black pepper by small farmers in the city of Capitão Poço / PA. The research was developed based on the application of semi-structured questionnaires, in order to identify the form of cultivation of black pepper in the municipality carried out by family farmers, where a total of 50 producers were interviewed, and this sample was defined based on amount of small producers in the municipality. In addition, other resources were used, such as photographic records, audio recording, notes in field notebooks and direct and indirect observations, which also supported the research. Most respondents (46%) have been producing black pepper for over ten years, and 38% have reported growing the crop between five and ten years, 54% of producers said that the cultivation practice of the crop was adhered to. income supplementation and 32% said it was a passed on activity from father to son and the main variety cultivated by farmers (56%) is kotanadan. Thus, it was found that the main factor of cultivation of black pepper, is the complementation of income of small producers, using the variety kotanadan, because it is easily accessible in family farming of the studied region. Highlighted ConclusionThe main factor for cultivation of black pepper var. kotanadan is the supplementation of income of familiar producers.