Concepts of Tropical Agroecology for sustainable agriculture

the case of the Agroexport Region of Western Bahia

Abstract

Consisting of the municipalities of Barreiras, Correntina, Formosa do Rio Preto, Luís Eduardo Magalhães, and São Desidério, the Agro-Export Region of Western Bahia, Brazil, stands out at the state and national levels in the production of grains for export. Benefited by abiotic (the basins of the Rio Preto, Rio Corrente, and Rio Carinhanha rivers) and biotic factors – Cerrado, which feeds back to the river basins and the Urucuia aquifer – agribusiness has largely appropriated the natural resources of the region. Therefore, this article aims to propose the adoption
of the six tropical agroecological concepts in the municipalities of the region to mitigate the impacts of the type of predominant land use in the region. The following methodological procedures were adopted: literature review,
MapBiomas data collection; preparation of tables on land use; production of thematic maps; and visual analysis of the information obtained. An inversely proportional relationship was identified between the extent of the areas occupied by agribusiness and those of the remaining areas of the Cerrado: the hectares used by agribusiness increased, while the Cerrado’s hectares decreased during the observed time interval. This inversely proportional relationship is of concern given that it is the geosystemic relationship between the Cerrado and the bodies of water, which favors the free regional development of agribusiness itself and the traditional communities in the Region dependent on the synergy of biotic and abiotic processes. Therefore, the environmental and productive conditions and the quality of life of the population will be affected if there is no sustainable use of these resources.