ACTION RESEARCH IN THE CONVERSION OF PASTURE TO CLEARED LAND IN THE AMAZONIAN FAMILY FARMING

Abstract

In the absence of actions aimed at the transfer and adoption of the knowledge and the Technologies generated by the scientific research, they usually become distant from the production process and are usually little used by the farmers, mainly by the family farmers. This article describes the process of transfer of the cleared lands cultivated in the bottom of the lot to a place close to the farmers’ dwellings; the change of fields of Brachiaria pasture to cleared lands; and the creation of demonstration units in the settlement, taking as a basis the action research. An área of a 20-year Brachiaria pasture was harrowed to sow the Mucuna aterrima, which was cut before flowering, and the bean cv. Rosinha underwent broadcast seeding. The experience of transferring pasture area in farming and reducing the distance between the farmers’ dwellings and the cleared lands was repeated in 2010 and will be again in 2011 by the same farmer and another six farmers of the GAEH – a group of ecological farmers of Humaitá. After the bean harvest, banana was introduced to that area. This action worked as a demonstrative unit for Exchange among several groups of farmers, technicians and students. The bean plant cv. Rosinha had a yield of 621 kg ha^-1, representing a technological alternative for pasture areas with low yield.

Index terms: ecological agriculture, green manure, Phaseolus vulgaris.