Crop Selection Strategies of Squatters at Early Stage of Settlement in Lower Amazon

Abstract

Since 1980s, the settlement and occupancy into abandoned or non-cultivated land by poor peoples or landless peasantsbecame popular in Brazil. These people sometimes lack agricultural experiences to yieldsufficient production for livelihoods and it lead them to abandon the land and repeating forest clearance. Sufficient and sustainable agricultural production for subsistence and crop sale is important, especially during the early stage of immigration, in order to settlers to remain the land they had occupied. To elucidate the difference in crop selection tendencies between households with production sales and those without sales, we categorised the households within a single study area in Brazil into three types: (1) households with sales income from agricultural products (SA), and households without sales income in which the variety among cultivated crops was (2) low (NL) or (3) high (NH). The crops were divided into six types: (1) tubers and herbaceous crops that can be harvested within or around a year; tree crops that can be harvested within 3 years either (2) seasonally or (3) year-round; tree crops that can be harvested only after 4 years either (4) seasonally or (5) year-round; and (6) tree crops for timber, colouring, and oil use. Our survey results indicate that the SA households had a well-designed combination of crop species, including both commercial and subsistence crops, whereas the NH and NL households were lacking in short- and long-term sales. None of the NH had any sales income, even though they had the highest calculated number of calories coming from the consumption of agricultural products.