Saberes e práticas locais dos produtores de guaraná (Paullinia cupana Kunth var. sorbilis) do médio Amazonas: Duas organizações locais frente à inovação

Abstract

Guarana (Paullinia cupana Kunth var. sorbilis) is a native plant of the Amazon, known worldwide for its stimulant properties. Since 1974, a process of modernization of farming systems has been widespread in the region by monopolistic agribusiness and agricultural research companies. This has resulted in the dissemination of modernizing technological packages aimed at increasing agricultural productivity. Managed and originally consumed by Sateré-Mawé indians, guarana has lost the link with its region of origin, which from 1990 on stimulated the search for alternative valorization of the origin and of family-based and agroecologically-based production. Research, conducted with producers of two local organizations from the lower Amazon aimed to identify initiatives to further re-territorialization of production, management practices and in situ conservation of the plant, as well as reactions to the dissemination of innovative forms of production and marketing. Starting from the hypothesis that different functional dynamics exist in each organization, we established that the producers relationships with the market, with traditional knowledge protection and with the plant itself evolved in different socio-historical trajectories. These trajectories resulted in different systems of socio-cultural, ecological and technological reference.