IS OIL PALM CULTIVATION REFORESTATION?

Perceptions of farmers integrated into the palm oil agroindustry in the Eastern Amazon

Abstract

As part of the strategy to characterize oil palm monocultures as a sustainable land use practice in
Amazonia, the Agroecological Zoning of Oil Palm system (ZAE-Dendê) states that plantations are
a way to reforest degraded lands. This paper investigates the perception of family farmers, who
produce oil palm under contracts with agribusinesses, in regard to oil palm cultivation as
reforestation. Research was conducted in the municipality of Irituia, in Northeastern Pará state,
Brazil and consisted of a literature review on national laws and of relevant scientific literature; we also conducted a survey of primary data. Thirty interviews were conducted with family farmers producing oil palm. We concluded that most integrated farmers consider planting oil palm to be a means of reforestation, since, in the municipality, oil palm areas were planted in open and degraded areas, according to the guidelines of the ZAE-Dendê. They assess that landscape features, faunal diversity and shade provision are better with oil palm plantations than under previous conditions. Also contributing to their perceptions are the prevailing narratives that circulated during the oil palm cultivation period by company interlocutors and other supporters.