Agribusiness and environmental conservation in tropical forests in the eastern Amazon

Agribusiness in tropical forests could provide incentives that generate employment and income through public and/or private investments capable of reducing carbon emissions and encouraging the efficient use of natural resources through environmentally sustainable management. The objective of this study was to analyze the agribusiness practices adopted by cooperatives and associations of farmers in Para state (Eastern Amazon, Brazil) and the importance they attribute to environmental conservation. The methodology consisted of remotely conducting interviews based on a questionnaire with farmer cooperatives and associations. We found that the main products produced by the cooperatives and associations were fruits and their derivatives. In addition, we identified a significant positive relationship between the operation duration of a cooperative or association and the number of products they produced. Regarding the challenges faced by cooperatives, legal challenges were most notable, while the challenges faced by associations were related to environmental issues. Notably, associa-tions and cooperatives showed low agreement considering the importance of each conservation practices analyzed. The results also suggested that the current subsidies granted to cooperatives and associations have nonsignificant impacts on the intensity of their adoption of environmental conservation practices, implying that monetary incentives are effective only with cooperatives/associations that have weaker attitudes toward the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices. Agricultural policy should consider both economic support and effective and continuous programs focusing on the sustainable use of natural resources.(c) 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Institution of Chemical Engineers. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Automated summary

This study analyzed the agribusiness practices and environmental conservation efforts of farmer cooperatives and associations in Para state, Brazil. Fruits and their derivatives were found to be the main products produced by these organizations. There was a positive relationship between the duration of operation and the number of products produced. Legal challenges were more prominent for cooperatives, while associations faced more environmental challenges. The study also found that the current subsidies provided had a limited impact on promoting environmental conservation practices.