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Challenges for agroecological and organic management of Cabruca cocoa agroecosystems in three rural settlements in south Bahia, Brazil: perceptions from local actors

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Abstract

Cabruca agroforestry systems play a crucial role as ecological corridors in biodiversity conservation on the south coast of Bahia. The decline in these agroecosystems due to land-use changes poses as a major threat to Atlantic Forest biodiversity conservation. Therefore, efficient agricultural extension actions towards the maintenance of these agroforestry systems are paramount. This research evaluated the process of construction and sharing of knowledge in agricultural extension practices toward agroecological management of the Cabruca in three agrarian reform settlements, and the challenges for the persistence of Cabruca in this region. We interviewed seven farmers and three extension agents from the Cabruca Institute. The study showed that most of the proposed practices adopted by farmers were already part of the traditional Cabruca management. The main limitations for the adoption of new practices were that they required increased labor, which is scarce and expensive. In fact, exodus and aging of the rural population remain major threats for long-term sustainability and persistence of Cabruca agroecosystems. Other limitations for organic management include the absence of differentiated price and marketing channels for organic cocoa and other products for the Cabruca social biodiversity. Although the process of construction and sharing of knowledge was participatory, overall community participation in the process was low. Extensionists should devise and implement innovative community engagement strategies to empower these small-scale farmer communities to ensure the persistence of Cabruca in the region and consolidate organic management of Cabruca agroecosystems.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Cabruca Institute and all farmers involved in the research and the financial support given by Programa Nacional de Educação na Reforma Agrária, Conselho Nacional do Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, and Radis Project 5788—Fundação Universidade de Brasília/Faculdade UnB Planaltina—(Process number: 14018/2015). We also thank MSc Marilu Milanez Alves for the production of Figure 1 and two anonymous reviewers for their suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Programa de Pós-graduação em Agroecossistemas, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Brazil

    Renata Fernandes Nogueira

  2. Projeto RADIS – Faculdade de Planaltina/UnB/Finatec, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, Brazil

    Iris Roitman

  3. Departamento de Botânica, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora, Brazil

    Fabrício Alvim Carvalho & Gustavo Taboada Soldati

  4. Faculdade UnB Planaltina, Universidade de Brasília, Planaltina, Brazil

    Tamiel Khan Baiocchi Jacobson

  5. Centro de Ciências Agrárias Rodovia, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Brazil

    Tamiel Khan Baiocchi Jacobson

Authors
  1. Renata Fernandes Nogueira
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  2. Iris Roitman
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  3. Fabrício Alvim Carvalho
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  4. Gustavo Taboada Soldati
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  5. Tamiel Khan Baiocchi Jacobson
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Correspondence to Iris Roitman.

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Fernandes Nogueira, R., Roitman, I., Alvim Carvalho, F. et al. Challenges for agroecological and organic management of Cabruca cocoa agroecosystems in three rural settlements in south Bahia, Brazil: perceptions from local actors. Agroforest Syst 93, 1961–1972 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-018-0303-x

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