Motivações e restrições para o desenvolvimento da mandiocultura no Lago do Ajuruxi, Mazagão – Amapá

Abstract

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) culture is the main food source for rural residents of the state of Amapá, as well as an important source of income from the commercialization of its byproducts, such as flour, tapioca flour, gum and tucupi. The Ajuruxi Lake region is the main cassava producer in the municipality of Mazagão and one of the main suppliers of flour for the Amapá state farmers' markets, despite the difficult road and waterway access to the local communities. In this context, the objective was to understand the motivations and restrictions that lead family farmers from the Ajuruxi Lake region to remain in the practice of mandioculture. The Ajuruxi Lake region is located in the municipality of Mazagão, Amapá, on the source of the Ajuruxi River, tributary of the Amazonas River, and is made up of seven communities. Of these, we selected for the study the communities of Santo André do Ajuruxi, São Pedro do Ajuruxi and São Tomé do Ajuruxi. The research was a qualitative, descriptive, case study approach, using the hypothetical-deductive method. The research sample consisted of farmers over 18 years of age, regardless of gender, and practitioners of cassava culture. Cassava production was found to be the sole source of income for the absolute majority of farmers in the Lake Ajuruxi region, and the production areas are mostly from the families themselves. It was concluded that the motivations for farmers to remain in the cassava culture consist mainly of their strong connection to their homeland, peaceful way of life, ease of getting food and the taste for work they learned from their parents; while the restrictions are linked to the lack of technical support to farmers to improve cassava cultivation