Economic indicators in the cultivation of passion fruit (passilora edulis) in the central region of Rondônia – Western Amazon

Abstract

Brazil is the world's largest producer of passion fruit, with an average annual production of 700,000 tons. Although the production of the fruit is concentrated in the northeast region of the country, the states of the Amazon region have a significant production, especially in Amazonas, Pará and Rondônia. Even though there are several studies on passion fruit, there are still few works that address the economic aspects of the activity. Thus, the present study aimed to measure and analyze the main economic indicators of passion fruit cultivation in the Central Region of Rondônia, Western Amazon/Brazil. To reach the objectives, this descriptive and exploratory research, used the bibliographical research and the field study, promoting the collection of data through interviews applied to passion fruit producers established in three municipalities contained in the Western Amazon / Brazil - specifically in the central region of the state of Rondônia, and the information collected was treated qualitatively and quantitatively. Thus, it was especially found that the average monthly Return on Investment (ROI) of the activity was 3.98%, the average profitability was 10.86%, while the average profit was BRL 8,853.28 (US$ 2,425.56) per hectare grown from the fruit. Furthermore, through Pearson's correlation analysis, it was found that most economic indicators were highly dependent on the “production” variables.