AGRO-ECOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF TROPICAL FARMING SYSTEMS USING EMERGY: IN RIODE JANEIRO - BRAZIL

Authors

  • Juan Carlos Torrico Albino University of Applied Sciences Cologne - Institute for Technology and Resources Management in the Tropics and Subtropics, Betzdorferstr 2, 50679, Köln, Germany Agro-ecological evaluation of tropical farming systems using emergy: In Rio de Janeiro-Brazil (PDF Download Available). Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/256078636_Agro-ecological_evaluation_of_tropical_farming_systems_using_emergy_In_Rio_de_Janeiro-Brazil [accessed Nov 03 2017].
  • Sandra Maria Guimarã es Callado Faculdade Farias Brito, Rua Castro Monte, 1364, Varjota 60175-230 – Fortaleza, CE - Brazil

Keywords:

Emergy analysis, Farming systems, Agro-ecology, Atlantic Forest

Abstract

The article is based on an agro-ecological evaluation of seven different agricultural systems in Teresó polis, Rio de Janeiro. The studied systems are dealing with: vegetable production system, ecological husbandry, cattle production system, sylvopastoral approaches as well as citrus cropping systems. The main objective is to evaluate the environmental impact of these systems using the ?Emergy Analysis? as methodology. For this purpose, input data as materials, services, natural renewable/nonrenewable sources of 42 crops were analyzed. This method is based on energy flows, transforming all inputs and outputs in a common unit. This analysis allows comparisons across agricultural systems and their environmental impacts, as well as, makes possible the identification of scenarios to achieve greater sustainability. The main conclusions of this study are: the vegetable systems have large amounts of energy invested in irrigation, fertilizers and fuels; the largest value of sustainability corresponds to the ecological systems and it has the capacity to save capital in form of biomass in the system; cattle system causes bigger environmental damage and have the smallest yield per hectare in economic and energy terms; as for the citrus systems, a low investment rate was found and the use of renewable resources from this system is comparable to the vegetable systems.

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Published

2017-11-03

How to Cite

Albino, J. C. T., and S. M. G. es Callado. “AGRO-ECOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF TROPICAL FARMING SYSTEMS USING EMERGY: IN RIODE JANEIRO - BRAZIL”. Emirates Journal of Food and Agriculture, vol. 24, no. 4, Nov. 2017, pp. 361-70, https://www.ejfa.me/index.php/journal/article/view/897.

Issue

Section

Regular Articles