Expansion of the agrarian extractive frontier and its implications for peasant family farming in the Plateaus of Santarém (state of Pará, Brazil)

Abstract

Territory within the municipalities of Santarém, Belterra and Mojuí dos Campos, west of Pará, Brazil, the Planalto Santareno (Santarem Plateau) concentrates different peasant family farms. It is also a space of the expansion of the extractive agrarian frontier and the epicenter of monocultures, supported by private and public investments, causing profound socio-productive changes. The expansion of soybean crops has caused transformations of the space, social reproduction, and in the productive systems of peasant family farmers. This study aims to investigate the main challenges and analyze productive and social perspectives of peasant family farming in the Planalto, considering threats and consequences of the agrarian extractive frontier. The research used qualitative (interviews and participant observation) and quantitative (geoprocessing and production data collection) methodologies, systematizing information, and reports on loss of production, increased deforestation, and contamination by pesticides, resulting in health problems, making it unfeasible to stay in the land and peasant family reproduction in the Plateau of Santarem.