Sustainable Rural Livelihoods in a Context of Swidden Agriculture and Charcoal Production in Rural Communities of Biguaçu/SC

Abstract

In the city of Biguaçu, state of Santa Catarina in southern Brazil, family farmers practice a kind of natural land use in which agriculture, forestry and energy production are related. These farmers regularly practice fallow agriculture in secondary subtropical forests (Atlantic Forest biome), with production of energy in the form of charcoal. We aim at assessing the sustainability of the livelihoods of farm families through the analysis of access to assets or capital, categorized as natural, human, financial, social, physical and cultural capital, according to the approach of sustainable livelihoods. The fieldwork involved various techniques of ethnographic approach with members of 5 families of Três Riachos community, from 2012 to 2014. It is concluded that the natural capital asset access is possible in their own family property, and still be a renewable resource. As for human, physical and financial capital, it appears that in this production system, there is excessive and often unhealthy labor, using poor technologies and infrastructure. In the social capital, we emphasize the relationships of trust and reciprocity existing among farmers and external actors. Allied to this asset, there is the cultural capital, highlighting reciprocity characteristics with external agents, especially their customers. To promote the sustainability of livelihoods it is essential to facilitate full access to this capital, or increase access to those assets already established, such as the cultural capital. Thus, it is concluded that the analyzed livelihoods have the potential to be sustainable.