Coletar ou Cultivar: as escolhas dos produtores de açaí-da-mata (Euterpe precatoria) do Amazonas

Since the fruit gathering is handmade by climbing the trees, the decision of production seems to depend mainly on the supply of young male labour, i.e., workers with the ability and physical strength to accomplish this task. Cultivation decision may be associated with an increased availability of financial capital that households get from the income of agricultural activities. Families that cultivate açaí also maintained the practice of gathering, indicating that the growing of small areas of intercropping is a strategy to increase production without necessarily total replacing the extraction by the species cultivation.