Sistemas de produção de sementes de milho crioulo no Sudoeste Paulista

Abstract

The cultivation of corn has stood out among the activities of small producers, and its grain has been used in human and animal feeding, being one of the sources of daily energy for a large part of the population. The present study aimed to do a description of the production system of eight farmers in the Southwest of São Paulo State region in the 2018/2019 harvest to understand the practices carried out in the production of Creole corn seeds, through the application of a semi-structured questionnaire with personal and productive questions. The producers are part of the “Roteiro do Mileho” project and, among the farmers, 60% are male and 40% female, being distributed among the cities of Ribeirão Grande (50%), Capão Bonito (38%) and Guapiara (12%), focusing on production for human and animal consumption or for making handicrafts. The sowing, carried out mechanically and the harvest, carried out manually, occur in the months of August to September and February to March, respectively. Among the materials produced, priority was given to the production of materials with yellow seeds, with purple or white straw, in production systems, diversified considering the consortium of corn with beans and pumpkin. The greatest adversity found was the climate and it was identified that conventional cultivation practices are carried out, with little practice for the conservation and maintenance of Creole seeds. There were gaps in the understanding of the appreciation of Creole seeds, and the work carried out by entities representing workers in the process of conservation and dissemination of Creole seed knowledge is important, enabling farmers to understand more conservationist forms of cultivation.