The influence of tobacco plantation in the dynamics of landscape in the arroyo Boa Vista watershed – Guamiranga – Paraná

Abstract

This article has as it aims to discuss the changes occurred in the rural landscape due to introduction of tobacco plantation in the Arroyo Boa Vista watershed - Guamiranga Parana. Until the mid-1980s, the basin was influenced by the Faxinal System, which is characterized through the collective use of land for cattle production. As a result these lands were not viable to agricultural practices because there is no boundary between the farms properties. The agricultural sites were outside the Faxinal domain, also there was a subsistence farming predominance with slash-burn practices (clearing secondary forest and burning). In the early 1980s, the tobacco cultivation (Nicotiana tabacum) begins to exert some pressure on those farmers who owned their property in the Faxinal areas. Interviews were conducted with residents to assess their perception in relation to the change that occurred in the basin because the tobacco provided a rearrangement in the agrarian structure and daily life of farmers. Most respondents claim that the inclusion of tobacco became a profitable, despite the environmental and social problems it causes. Throughout the study, it was found that the tobacco industry contributed to agricultural practices such as agriculture survival were set aside