TIPIFICAÇÃO DE HORTAS URBANAS COMERCIAIS NO MUNICÍPIO DE PIRACICABA-SP E ENTRAVES PARA SUA CONVERSÃO AO MANEJO ORGÂNICO

Abstract

This work aimed to make a typification of the urban farmers in Piracicaba and to raise the obstacles to the conversion to the organic management. A census was carried out with 28 urban farmers in the city, through non-structured interviews, to collect the variables of interest. The cluster analyzes was carried out for the classification of the farmers and the principal components analysis to find the correlation between the variables. Gardens ranged from 370 to 14,000m²; farmers used both mineral and organic fertilizers and most used herbicides and other pesticides. Three farmer profiles were found: business, family entrepreneur and artisanal; and a positive correlation between the variables area, commercial crops and number of employees; and between herbicidal and other pesticides. Among the main obstacles to conversion to organic production are the pests and diseases, invasive plants and the insecurity of permanence on the land that discourages investments.