Avaliação de desempenho de granjas suinícolas pelo emprego de indicadores de sustentabilidade

Abstract

Modern pig farming is characterized by the intensive production of animals in limited confinement units. With a world herd of approximately 957 million animals, representing approximately 39% of the total of meat consumed, it is the main source of animal protein worldwide. Brazil is the fourth largest in the world, and Rio Grande do Sul holds the second position in the country. This intensive model is responsible for strong environmental impacts due to the large amount of wastes generated, high consumption of scarce water and land resources, and the atmospheric emission of polluting gases which require greater attention to waste disposal. There is no consensus among the technical people as regards the more appropriate technological alternatives for adequate treatment of this issue. Thus, pig farming requires broader, more integrated approaches. In this context, the purpose of this research was to evaluate the form of planning, implementation and operation of sustainability applied to the pig-producing farms. For this purpose a new method was proposed to evaluate sustainability in this sector: the SISS Method (SISS- Sistema de Indicadores de Sustentabildade da Suinocultura - System of Sustainability Indicators in Pig-farming), which is applied on farms with different management systems: manure heaps, biodigestors, composting and deep bedings. SISS proved efficient for the purpose, easy to apply in the field, with a broad evaluation of factors relevant to the practice of pig-farming. It was found that farms that used composting to treat the wastes had a greater set of sustainable practices, which makes this system most attractive for pig-farming. The deep bedings system was considered the worst among the farms surveyed. And to render the manure heaps appropriate in treatment systems such as biodigestors or composting beds, it is necessary to perform economic and environmental feasibility analyses, and they must present the best benefits for the farm and region where they are located. The outstanding recommendation is the need for a joint intervention between the participatory spheres of the production chain of pig-farming in the state, so that this economic activity will be sustainably consolidated.