This study examines the importance of "cocoa culture" for Local Development in Tranzamazonica Territory, from the vision and perception of social actors involved in its productive process. It adopts quantitative and qualitative approach to better understanding and grasp of reality having as analytical reference, historical, socio- political, economical and spatial factors related to the implementation and expansion of cocoa cultivation in the mentioned territory. It identifies the main trading and productive constraints affecting systemic competitiveness of actors involved in the cocoa productive chain, especially small farmers. It highlights the strategies adopted by producers to fix the cocoa crop as an agricultural alternative aiming local development in rural areas. The results of the study confirm the importance of cocoa crop in local context and demonstrate the economic, social and environmental viability of that productive activity in the local production systems, which are diversified and managed by small family farmers. However, the results also indicate that the positive effects of cocoa economy are not optimized in Tranzamazonica Territory, more specifically by producers, showing the existence of an extraterritorial appropriation of benefits generated by this agroeconomic activity in micro-regional context, especially by large cocoa processing companies installed in other regions of the country. Facts pointed in this study, as the poor organization of the productive class, market structure, oligopolistic commercialization, and corporative interests of private funds, are explanatory of the negative externalities produced by exogenous actions, culminating with the reduction of annual revenue from cocoa producers. It still demonstrates the necessity of definition and implementation of public policies (programs and projects) capable of optimizing and better appropriating economic outcomes generated by this productive activity in local level. It finally proposes alternatives and strategies of economic and spatial sustainability, keeping in view the consolidation of cocoa productive chain in regional and local context, as an agricultural alternative (dominated by small farmers) able to contribute greatly to the Local Development in Eastern Amazon.
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