Sustentabilidade agropecuária em quatro municípios do Sertão Paraibano.

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the level of sustainability of rural producers in four municipalities of Sertão da Paraíba, analyzing the contribution of the indicators regarding quality of life, social capital and environmental preservation of producers. The data were obtained through semi-structured interviews with 40 rural producers from each municipality and, based on these dataof, indices of quality life, social and environmental capital were calculated, in order, to calculate the sustainability index. The rural producers demonstrated a time of performance in agricultural activities that varied from 10 to 70 years of work in the field. In the municipalities of Sertão, in the state of Paraíba, Brazil, it was verified that, according to the rural producers, the livestock activities that present the best economic performance are goat breeding, beekeeping and cattle breeding. Within the agricultural activities, stands out the fruticulture and the dryland culture. In relation to the quality of life, index all municipalities were characterized as medium. For the social capital, index only Triunfo was defined as low level, the others were classified as average. The municipality of Santa Helena presented an environmental index for the rural producers of medium level of preservation, and as characterizations of the other municipalities were low level. The level of sustainability of rural producers, in the municipalities of São João do Rio do Peixe, Santa Helena and Poço de José de Moura was defined as medium. The municipality of Triunfo was classified as low level of sustainability of the rural producers, which had a negative contribution of the low environmental preservation and small social participation of the producers.