Levantamento das plantas alimentícias nativas e exóticas da caatinga comercializadas na feira livre no município de Cuité - Paraíba.

Abstract

Since the antiquity, street markets involve economic, social and cultural values, and through their rise, great and small urban centers were built. In order to study and comprehend the knowledge forms and uses of the plants commercialized at the fairs, the ethnobotany has been the primary means research. In this sense, this work aimed to conduct an ethnobotany survey of the native and exotic food plants of the Caatinga commercialized in the free market at the municipality of Cuité – Paraíba, emphasizing the floristic richness and salience of these species, with the objective to reveal a panorama about the commerce of the species that serve as a resource for the composition of the diet of the people living in this region. For this purpose, it was utilized the technique of free listing and two semi structured questionnaires were applied to sellers (n=87), which were chosen through non-probabilistic sample. Data were collected by direct observation, formal conversations and interviews. Through the free listing and by the participant observations it was registered the occurrence of 75 species belonging to 43 genera and 30 botanical families. The families that had a larger number of species were: Brassicaceae with eight species (11%), Cucurbitaceae with seven species (10%), Rosaceae e Solanaceae with six species each (8%) and Amaryllidaceae e Fabaceae with four species each (6%). Thus, it is understood that they contribute to the greater number of species which provide nutrients to the local population. Of 46 consulted marketers, 31 (67%) were men and 15 (33%) women, aged at the minimum 15 years and maximum 76 years. With regard to the cast of commercialized plants, the number of native species (n=3, 5%) in relation to the exotic species (n=62, 95%) presented itself reduced. Therefore, as a result of the research, it can be related that the most important species to the sellers were: “banana” (Musa sp.), “mamão” (Carica papaya L.), “batata-doce” (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.), “laranja” (Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck), “cebola” (Allium cepa L.), “maçã” (Malus domestica Borkh), “tomate” (Solanum lycopersicum L.), “batata-inglesa” (Solanum tuberosum L.), “uva” (Vitis sp.) and “melão” (Cucumis melo L.).