Acre State is different from other states in the Amazon because it has fertile soils, many biological endemic species and morphological situations related to many local vegetation and animal populations. The tejo river basin is traditionally occupied by rubber tappers producing rubber of good quality and with good productivity for extractive exploitation. Nevertheless, these people live in social conditions near misery.
One of the main problems in the tejo river basin is related to its geographical isolation. A great distance separates the closest towns; there are many difficulties of transportation and lack of medical assistance and schools. There is need to install in the region a program to treat rapidly people injured by snakes and sick due to malaria. Ninety five percent of the interviewed people said that they have contracted endemic diseases that make them to be inactive for an average of 50 days per year. In a extractive system and rudimentary agriculture, where the producers do not have an extra person for labor and the rubber cutting is restricted to dry season, this period in which the rubber tapper does not work represents great damage to the family income, which is based mainly on selling latex. It is noticeable in this first analysis of the production system and cultivation at the tejo River Basin that the capitalization of the producer is negligible.
The subsistence agriculture practiced in the region could be enhanced trough the diversification of products, utilization of selected seeds and cultural manegement allowing income growth.
The reduced number of fruit cultivars is because of the isolation of the "colocações" in relation to the villages and towns, making it difficult to purchase small plants as matrix. If the rubber tappers diversify the types of plants in their cultivars, they may improve food habits by adding new sources of vitamins and mineral salts.
On the same way, the lack of management techniques of cattle raising contributes to the reduced animal productivity observed at the Tejo River Basin. The rudimentary system used favors disease dissemination, which occur frequently among animals.
Hevea brasiliensis is originally from Brazil, but in Southeast Asia this plant has found an ideal habitat. Malaysia is today the greatest latex producer with 1.6 millions tons per year. Brazil produces around 30 thousand tons annually, with 130 thousand used internally. According to the Brazilian Association of rubber industry (ABIARB), in 1990, 55% of the Brazilian rubber come from cultivated rubber. This tendency has increased in the last few years and great economical groups are interested in invest on rubber plantations, thus eventually the rubber extractive activity will end.
The São Paulo State has today more than 12 million rubber trees, with approximately 15% being tapped. This kind of activity, a 12 year investment, has money return in 6 years and in the year 2,000 São Paulo will produce 40% of the total Brazilian production (50 thousand ton). The annual growth increase is around 3%, but the country will be self-sustaining by the end of this century with 22o thousand tons (currently 70% of the national need is imported).
This scenery gives the necessary ideas to implement politics to make the extractives activity stronger, because it keeps people working in an activity that does not destroy the forest, such as cattle raising, in the Amazon.
