This paper describes smallholder agricultural systems in the lower Amazon where the Santarém sub-Cluster is based. Here, despite the fertility of floodplain soils and a long tradition of floodplain farming, smallholder agriculture is stagnating. Once the basis of the floodplain economy, its role in smallholder subsistence has now been taken over by commercial fishing and extensive cattle ranching.
Solving Brazil’s land use puzzle: Increasing production and slowing Amazon deforestation
Brazil has become an agricultural powerhouse, producing roughly 30 % of the world’s soy and 15 % of its beef by 2013 – yet historically much of that growth has come at the expense of its native ecosystems. Since 1985, pastures and croplands have replaced nearly 65...