Structural diversity and change in rural Amazonia: a comparative assessment of the technological trajectories based on agricultural censuses (1995, 2006 and 2017)

Abstract

Abstract By applying methodological notions developed by Costa (2009), the present article sets out to define rural techno-productive trajectories in the Amazon, and compares their evolution with data from the agricultural censuses of 1995, 2006 and 2017. By highlighting the growth of each trajectory, the article discusses their fundamentals, set within the context of technological variants that have critically depended either on land or on labour, and were relatively intense, either in mechanical-chemical components or in the use of forest resources or permanent plantations. The results have underlined the significance that trajectories based on temporary crops and beef cattle have assumed within the region, as well as the risks and structural changes that this has involved. Results have also demonstrated the contrast represented by trajectories based on agroforestry systems and permanent crops.