O cultivo do limão-taiti na agricultura familiar: a produção na Comunidade Ramal das Pulgas, Monte Alegre/PA

Abstract

The “Tahiti” acid lime or Tahiti lemon (citrusxlatifólia), is one of the most produced citrus fruits in Brazil and in the world, with great economic importance for both the domestic and foreign markets. In Brazil, this type of cultivation adapted quickly, with the states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Pará and Bahia as the main national producers. In the last two decades, Pará has gained increasing visibility in lemon production, with emphasis mainly on the municipality of Monte Alegre, located in the Immediate Geographic Region of Santarém. The respective work aims to understand how the cultivation of Tahiti lemon expanded in rural areas of Monte Alegre/PA. To do this, we will highlight the main processes that involve this type of cultivation, and how this plant has become one of the most cultivated in the municipality, especially by family farmers, who in recent years are increasingly investing in this variety of citrus. Research was carried out in the Ramal das Pulgas community, the empirical object of this work, with farmers who cultivate Tahiti lemon, with questionnaires being applied between the periods of December 2023 to February 2024, with the aim of understanding the entire process from the acquisition of lemon seedlings until post-harvest of the fruit, in addition to presenting data regarding the profitability of these farmers' production. The results show that despite the difficulties encountered by farmers, they managed to adapt to this type of cultivation, thus obtaining good production and income results. It was possible to verify that in periods of high production (“in the Amazonian winter” between the months of January to July in the region) prices plummet, which is an aggravating factor for farmers, as many discard their production, as it is not worth selling the product, due to the expenses, mainly with transport to the city's port.