Caracterização do cultivo de plantas medicinais, aromáticas e condimentares em duas comunidades Amazônicas

Abstract

In the Amazon floodplain ecosystem, farming systems developed by smallholders are made and represented by a variety of useful plant species, which are maintained and managed in accordance with the water cycle of the Amazon River. Among the relevant types of agricultural crops in homegardens, for example, there is the cultivation of herbs and spices, which are largely responsible for the generation of income in local rural communities. In this context, taking into consideration the importance of not only economic, but above all social, cultural and food plants of these species, this study sought to characterize the farming systems of herbs and spices in the communities of Santa Luzia do Baixio (Iranduba) and San Francisco community (Careiro da Várzea).Therefore this research aims to contribute to a better understanding of the reality of agricultural riparian caboclos who grow these plant species. Given that the communities in focus are among the leading producers of vegetables, medicinal and fruit that supply the marketing centers (fairs, markets) in the metropolitan region of Manaus. That research was characterized as descriptive, and tools for data collection were: participatory meetings, socioeconomic form, semi-structured interviews, participant observation, oral histories, and georeferencing. The information generated from the use of research tools have gone through the process of ordering and sequencing data, tabulation and construction of charts, tables, summaries and storage in a database for later analysis. Thus, the methodology allowed to obtain the following results: The cultivation of herbs and spices in family units are performed in the subsystem miscellaneous production (yard agroforestry), interspersed with other species. The production system of herbs and spices is maintained by farmers through the maintenance and conservation of the species through the exchange of plant species (seedlings, cuttings, tiller) and storage of seeds from the plant itself. Among the forms of persistence of farmers in their agricultural practices are: traditional knowledge that is perpetuated in the conviviality of the younger to the older, labor, family labor, the main responsible for the crops, women, and agricultural diversity that assist in income, food and culture maintenance of riparian caboclos. However, during the cultivations, there are limiting factors, among them: the seasonality of the river, where the agricultural use of land is determined by water levels.