Diagnóstico da aquicultura na região de Laranjeiras do Sul-PR: estado atual e perspectivas

Abstract

Aquaculture has increasingly been presented as an interesting diversification of production, however the viability of the activity is related to the existence of conditions that foster its development. Very few studies have been conducted to evaluate the aquaculture chain in the region. The objective of this work was to develop a diagnosis of the current situation of aquaculture in the geopolitical region of Laranjeiras do Sul – Paraná. The region bring into account the municipalities of Diamante do Sul, Espigão Alto do Iguaçu, Guaraniaçu, Laranjeiras do Sul, Marquinho, Nova Laranjeiras, Porto Barreiro, Iguaçu Falls, Rio Bonito do Iguaçu and Virmond. The method was based on a qualitative and quantitative descriptive survey, with guided interviews by a semi-structured questionnaire. This research was divided in two stages, the first one considered interviews with all the public or private entities involved in the sector and the second one considered interviews in a random sample of 70 among 190 aquaculture producers. Results were submitted to the chi-square test in R and Sphinx® software. Through the interviews were listed the public policy actions already developed in the region by the various entities identified, as well as their point of view about the sector. Regarding the aquaculture producer, information was collected about the producer, property, production profile and about the difficulties faced. In the first stage, it was observed that there have already been some actions to encourage aquaculture, focusing on fish farming, turned to technical support, research, support in the construction of fish ponds, organization in purchase and sale of inputs, and other actions. There was little medium or long-term planning between the identified policies. Fish farming has focused its production towards direct sale and self-consumption, occuring informal slaughtering in most municipalities. The profile shows the predominance of small and medium family properties, which has in fish farming an option of income. Tilapia is the main specie, however it was not possible to estimate the total production of the region due to lack of records. Problems pointed out by entities and producers as most important are those related to the commercialization and slaughter. It is concluded that the overcoming of barriers necessarily goes through the formalization and regularization of slaughtering to enable access to local and regional markets. Technical support was also pointed out by producers as a necessity to ensure viability. Although there are problems, presented by various actors, fish production is seen as potential by most of the interviewees. Therefore, it is believed that after solving the problems mentioned, the aquaculture chain has the potential to enter a sustainable development cycle in Laranjeiras do Sul region.