Análise da viabilidade sócio-ambiental da fruticultura irrigada no Baixo Jaguaribe, Ceará

Abstract

With the ascent of the sustainable development paradigm, the importance of social and environmental matters has increased. Nowadays, in order to affirm that an activity is contributing for sustainable development, it is necessary to evaluate its social and environmental implications, because such dimensions are as important as the economic one. The irrigated fruit cultivation is an activity that has been growing in the State of Ceará, especially in certain favourable areas. Among these areas, there is the Low Jaguaribe, where various enterprises explore the activity. To evaluate, therefore, whether the irrigated fruit cultivation developed in the region has been contributing for the sustainable development, this research tried to evaluate the social and environmental aspects of the activity. The social matters were evaluated through interviews with the workers of the enterprises that produce fruits in the region. Were interviewed people who worked directly in the production (cultivation, harvest and after harvest cares) because these are the majority of workers in these enterprises. The interviews included items such as: education and health public services in the municipalities of residence, housing, sanitary aspects, possession of lasting consumer goods and job. The environmental matters of the activity were evaluated through interviews with the responsible technicians in the enterprises visited. Items such as use of soil conservation practices, existence of legal reserve in the property, plagues and illnesses control, fire use in the agricultural activity, kind of irrigation system used, among others, were included in the interviews. Starting from these information, two indexes were calculated: one of workers’ quality of life and another of environmental viability. Starting from these two indexes, it was obtained an index of socio-environmental viability of the irrigated fruit cultivation in the region’s enterprises. Both the basic indexes have presented good results. It was verified that the living conditions of the workers are good and that in the properties the most important environmental cares are observed. Thus, the socio-environmental viability index presented a good result as well, characterizing the irrigated fruit cultivation developed by the enterprises visited in the region as environmental and socially viable. However, to allow the activity to contribute in a more significant way to the State’s development, it’s necessary that a larger group of people may access it. This can be achieved through policies of land access democratization and stronger support to family agriculture, with easier credit and technical assistance.