Assessment of economic and environmental performance in citrus-based intercropping systems

Abstract: The economic and environmental performances of agriculture intercropping depend on the complementarities between the crops that make up the system. The objective of this work was to analyze the citrus-based intercropping systems in the Coastal Tablelands region of Northeastern Brazil, aiming to identify the associations of crops with better economic and environmental performances. The study started with the construction of a set of integrated indicators, with which the field information was recorded and the performance indices calculated, based on three principles: Profitability, Productive Efficiency, and Biological Regulation. Citrus orchards in monoculture resulted in lower environmental economic performance indices. The intercropping systems that yielded the best environmental and economic performance indices in the citrus orchards were: cassava; cassava, corn and beans; corn and pumpkin. The indicators associated with these economic-environmental performances were profit, seasonality, productive diversity, profit evenness, plant health control impact level, and efficiency in the use of water, nitrogen, and phosphate. -- Resumo: O desempenho economico e ambiental do consorcio agricola depende das complementaridades entre as culturas que compoem o sistema. O objetivo deste trabalho foi analisar os sistemas de consorciacao a base de citros na regiao dos Tabuleiros Costeiros do Nordeste do Brasil, visando a identificar as consorciacoes de culturas com melhores desempenhos economico e ambiental. O estudo iniciou-se com a construcao de um conjunto de indicadores integrados, com os quais foram registradas as informacoes de campo e calculados os indices de desempenho, com base em tres principios: Rentabilidade, Eficiencia Produtiva e Regulacao Biologica. Os pomares de citros em monocultivo resultaram em menores indices de desempenho economico ambiental. As combinacoes de cultivos consorciados aos citros que promoveram os melhores indices de desempenho economico ambiental foram: mandioca; mandioca, milho e feijao; milho e abobora. Os principais indicadores associados a este desempenho economico ambiental foram o nivel de impacto do controle fitossanitario, a diversidade produtiva, a lucratividade do consorcio, o equilibrio da rentabilidade, o retorno do investimento em energia fossil, e a eficiencia do uso de agua, de nitrogenio e de fosforo.