The agroforestry areas are production systems, which are located near the homes and are quite
common in the tropics. They consist of agricultural and forest species and may also involve
the raising of small animals in order to produce food for subsistence as well as income
generation, with special focus on the conservation of biodiversity. Aiming at characterizing
the floristic and ethnobotanical view of the agroforestry areas of the Carvão District and its
internal organization, enhancing its composition, socioeconomic structure and function,
focusing on aspects of management and usage, so as to gather information that contributes to
the conservation of natural resources and their rational use to enhance this important cultural
practice, 94 agroforestry areas in the Carvão District, Mazagão-AP, have been studied. During
the fieldwork, the ethnographic method with the techniques of participative observation,
formal and informal interviews, have been used. The collection of plant material was made
through the usual techniques applied in botany. The residents‟ monthly gross income is
261.08 minimum wages (MW) with an average of 2.53 MW and a mode of 1MW, per
household. Agricultural practices help with 30.82 MW, which corresponds to 11.801% of the
total. The most common diseases in families are influenza, malaria and pain in legs and arms,
and medicinal plants are used by the population in the prevention and in the cure of health
problems. The yard areas investigated presented different sizes as well as the number of
species and specimens, being the average size of 0.08 hectares. Domestic animals are raised
so as to complement food and income. We recorded 218 species in 69 families and 164
genera, with an average of 20.90 species per yard area. The families with the largest number
of species were: Lamiaceae, Solanaceae, Arecaceae, Asteraceae, and Rutaceae. The most
frequent genera are represented by Citrus, Capsicum, Alternanthera, Justicia and Allium. The
most frequent species were: Mangifera indica L., Anacardium occidentale L., Citrus sinensis
(L.) Osbeck, Euterpe oleracea Mart., Musa sp. and Cocos nucifera L. Regarding the usage
categories, most species is multiple use, particularly for medical use (169 species), for food
(102 species), for ornamentation (71 species), mystic (56 species) and for trees plantation (36
species). The yards are basically arranged in four distinct strata, and women play important
role concerning the introduction and maintenance of the species in that environment.
Management in such practices is simple and has low cost, since it involves traditional plant
cultivation practices and the main purpose of the yard areas of the Carvão District is to
promote complementary food items for families, except for a few of them who sell the
surplus. The floristic composition and species distribution in the yards are determined by
external and internal factors such as function and size of the yard as well as socioeconomic
and cultural factors, also the direct influence of the family that selects the species according to
their needs. These places could be better used in order to increase the productivity and
utilization of the production.
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