Causes of the abandonment of cotton cultivation in family farming in the department of Pirané-Formosa

Abstract

A social research was carried out with the aim of surveying the perception of producers about the reasons why they abandoned cotton cultivation. Family Farming Producers from Pirané, Formosa were the subjects of study from 2010 to 2020. According to the National Forum on Family Farming (2006), there is heterogeneity of productive units in this typology. Therefore, the causes surveyed have different impacts on each one, depending on their specific contexts. As a result of the interviews, cotton cultivation abandonment was multi-causal, usually more than three causes were found. Most of them were interrelated, so that a harmful synergy which impacted on crop continuity was generated. Nine of the causes related to different thematic areas such as: economic, climatic, organizational, social, commercialization and technological were surveyed and analyzed. The conclusions obtained in this study offer a valuable contribution to producers' real lives, as well as the reasons to abandon traditional cotton cultivation. Not only did these findings broaden our understanding of the problem, but also constituted a crucial basis for future research and actions aimed at improving conditions and sustainability in agriculture.