Cultivo de soja (Glycine max (L) Merril) no lavrado de Roraima: indicadores de impactos e percepção ambiental

Abstract

The present work treats about the environmental dynamics in a family-business agroecosystem in the city of Boa Vista, Roraima, where soybean (Glycine max (L) Merril) is cultivated in the Plowed (Savana). Therefore, it has as general objective to analyze the environmental dynamics and the environmental perception of different social actors, as possible ways of understanding the environmental impacts. Theoretical and methodological procedures were the Case Study (YIN, 2005) and the Systemic Complexity Paradigm (MORIN, 2005), from the categories of analysis, Environmental History, Agroecosystem, Environmental Perception, Environmental Impacts, Eduction Descriptors. The approach adopted can be characterized as multidisciplinary, involving aspects of social sciences (History, Geography, Psychology), natural sciences (Chemistry, Physics, Biology) and agrarian. Data collection was performed through the use of different instruments such as interviews with pre-established or free script, survey of secondary data from different sources, direct observation and use of field diary, as well as procedures for collecting biomass samples and soil, followed by specific laboratory analysis. Data analysis was qualitative (method triangulation) and quantitative (descriptive statistics, analysis of variance and Tukey test). The study indicated that soybean cultivation in the state of Roraima occurred from the efforts of the political segment, the private initiative and the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMPBRAPA), from the year 1981, when the first experiments were started with this crop, reaching about 40 thousand hectares of cultivated area today. Agroecosystems have cultivated areas ranging from 200 to 5,000 hectares, except in settlement areas (PANA). The soybean production chain in Roraima characterizes a globalized system, in which soybean (product) is a commodity, being exported to several countries. The study showed that the environmental perception of social actors regarding environmental components (soil, water and vegetation), as well as the possible impacts on them due to agricultural activity, is culturally influenced, and this, in turn, varies over time individual's contact with the environment. Thus, the landscape is more valued among those who have affective ties with the place. The above ground total biomass and soil descriptors evidenced environmental changes resulting from land use change in the studied agroecosystem, indicating the occurrence of impacts in different environmental compartments.