Family Farming: an analysis of the production of traditional crops in the Department of Concepción - Paraguay

The objective of the present investigation was to analyze the production of traditional items in the Department of Concepción and its importance in the context of peasant family agriculture (AFC). The database of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock was used for the areas of spurge, cassava, cotton and sesame from 1990/1991 to 2008/2009 for the analysis on planting area, total production in ton and yield in kilogram per hectare. The result reveals that the spurge in the study period shows a constant decrease in the amount of planted area, passing 6,610 hectares in the 1990/91 harvest to 3,450 hectares in the 2008/9 harvest, in the same period, the cassava presented a growth of the planted area passing 9,365 ha to 10,402 ha, while, the cotton of 23,700 ha decreased to 1,277 ha, likewise, the cultivation of sesame from the beginning of its production (harvest 2000/01) presents a constant increase in the amount of planted area, passing 8,000 hectares to 22,917 ha. The variation in the study period is verified for all items, considering cassava as a more stable item, and sesame as a substitution item for cotton.