Caracterização comunitária de produtores de peixes Bettasplendens

Abstract

Ornamental fish farming is an area of significant growth in aquaculture. One of the Brazilian poles of this production is located in the region of Zona da Mata in the state of Minas Gerais. In this one stands out the municipality of Patrocínio do Muriaé, where the ornamental production is realized by small aquacultures. The objective of this study was to characterize the productive system of Betta fish (Bettasplendens) from the Perobas community in the municipality of Patrocínio do Muriaé - MG. The research was carried out through the application of a semi-structured interview to a member of each of the community's 14 Bettas producing families. Responses were analyzed qualitatively. In the Perobas community there is a predominance of small properties, areas for cultivation of 0.059 hectares per property, semi-intensive production systems. These can be characterized by the low use of technologies. All the producers feed the fish using the same feed, which is commercially produced for the feeding of another species of fish, tilapia. The creation of Bettas accounts for most of the income for 13 (92.85%) of the 14 families interviewed. The sale of the animals is done through brokers, evidencing the difficulties of the producers insertion into the market, a factor that contributes to the exploration of the market. As for its sociological and anthropological characterization, the community can be considered peasantry, there are codes of conduct, exploitation in the relationship with the market mediated by the community, which is configured as an antagonistic agent. Although the production of Betta fish is important for the income obtained for the interviewed producers can be considered to be in small areas, without access to technologies, from the marketing point of view, the producers present subordinate insertion to the markets, with the presence of individuals inside the community that intermediate the comercial relations.