Production and productivity of black pepper in the Capitão Poço Municipality, Pará, Brazil

Abstract

This research aimed to survey aspects related to the production and productivity of black pepper cultivated by family farmers in the city of Capitão Poço, Pará, Brazil. To collect the information, a semistructured questionnaire was applied to 50 family farmers who work directly with the crop in that municipality. It can be seen that most piper producers (66%) obtain between 0.1 and 5 tonnes of black pepper, followed by 14% reaching over 10 to 20 tonnes. When asked on which factors most affect the loss of production, farmers reported that they are water stress (40%) and temperature (32%). Fifty-six percent of the growers said that, in the last five years, the pepper cultivation has remained stable, even with large price fluctuations in the pepper market. Thus, it is noticeable that the black pepper cultivation has a great development potential in the municipality, since it shows good productivity, and farmers are introducing it in more sustainable production systems, such as consortium and agroforestry systems (SAFs). Therefore, the development of technologies adapted to the local reality is increasingly necessary, to further improve the production systems of this spice.