Agro extractive systems as an alternative to preserve the babassu palm tree in Maranhão State

Abstract

The main objective was to develop management techniques to preserve the babassu palm in areas of land reform in Esperantinópolis, municipality situated at Maranhão State. It was tested three (3) densities of babassu palm trees (40, 60 and 80 palms trees per hectare) intercropped with food crops: rice, beans, cassava and maize. It sought to observe the behavior of crops, as well as the full use of babassu coconut, evaluating the potential gross income from the sale of agricultural products, as well the sale of almond, pith and coal extracted from the babassu endocarp. Twelve families were intentionally selected to carry out the field work in their farms. Experimental work began with the preparation of areas without using fire to clean areas. Instead, the vegetation residuals were used as dead fertilizer. In this search the babassu palms trees were preserved, except for the achievement of densities to be tested in the study. There were computed the prices market of crops used in this search as well the derived product of babassu coconut. The most important outcome of the research is to show that: if the family’s goal is to maximize cash income with the production of crops just as a tool for food security, and sell the extra product beyond the families’ nutritional security, the best density should be eighty (80) palm trees per hectare.