THE INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS AND SUSTAINABILITY OF AGROFORESTRY SYSTEM: THE IMPORTANCE OF ORGANIZATIONAL FORMS

Abstract

The work analyzes the presuppositions of political-institutional organization and of the respective typical technological formats of agroforestry systems existent in the area that includes the Caí and Taquari valley rivers, in Rio Grande do Sul state. It intends the constitution and selection of sustainability indicators for analysis of these systems, composing a sustainability index (SI). It makes the classification of the different systems starting from its structural characteres, seeking the determination of different organizational standards (institutional arrangements) and, after, it identifies sustainability patterns through the indicators and a sustainability index. The analysis of the identified patterns and indexes reveal the adequacy of the methodology for comparative analysis of sustainability of production systems and it demonstrates the existence of relationships among institutional arrangements, technological formats and sustainability patterns. The agroforestry systems that stand out in the analysis are the one that combines exotic forest species with watermelon and the one that combines citrus with native forest species, while the institutional arrangement in prominence is the associative arrangement.