Os caminhos da transição agroecológica: uma análise das experiências da agricultura familiar camponesa no território dos Vales do Curu e aracatiaçu-CE

This study examines peasant family farming from an agroecological perspective. It intends to analyze the changes resulting from the transition from conventional to agro-ecological agriculture in the daily practices of farmers articulated associated with the Network of Agroecological and Solidarity Farmers of the Curu and Aracatiaçu Valleys Territory, the locus of this empirical research, and a space which has highlighted the social dynamics of agroecological innovation, as well as articulating environmental exchanges and knowledge development. As a way to further that goal, we seek to identify the forms of social organization previously present in the daily lives of these subjects, in addition to grasping the determinants that lead or led them to adopt agroecology, noting the need to verify the forms of resistance, and the strategies adopted by farmers and how they articulate collectively. Through the historical and dialectical methods, we seek to take the implications of technical modernization of agriculture under the conditions of production and reproduction of peasants and thus situate the emergence of agroecology, a focus that is born as a counterpoint to conventional patterns of agricultural development based on the paradigm of the Green Revolution. We structured this study around the trajectory of agroecological farmers that developed and internalized agroecological practices, processes, and organizational forms. For the analysis, we used theoretical and methodological frameworks from literature related to field research. The systematization and analysis of experiments revealed that agroecological transition is a broad process of change, not restricted to technical matters. We observed changes in production practices, diversification of production and feeding practices, ecological awareness, production autonomy, and organizations formed to face the challenges resulting from the imposition of the dominant agricultural development model that combines environmental degradation, land ownership concentration, and wealth concentration

Sustentabilidade do cultivo de melão no assentamento São Romão em Mossoró/RN

Agriculture is one of the most discussed topics currently in the conceptual field of sustainability. The debates are increasingly recurrent and put in question the model adopted from post-war, so-called green revolution, for its potential of degradation of natural resources. This type of Agriculture put Brazil at the top of the global agribusiness, where stands out in various sectors such as grain, meat, sugar and horticulture. Discussions are focused on aspects related to the use of agrochemicals, monoculture, conversion of native forest in extensive agricultural areas, among other points taken as deleterious to environmental balance. On the other hand, there is a model, called by family farming, which for many researchers, has attributes closer to the understanding of sustainable agriculture. In the state of Rio Grande do Norte, the agricultural potential lies mainly on horticulture, where stands the agropolo AcuMossoró, as one of the greatest tropical fruit producing regions of Brazil, being melon, the major fruit produced. The cultivation of this vegetable was developed in the region in the late 1980s, from the investment of large agricultural enterprises, whose cultivation techniques were grounded by the green revolution. Currently, the melon cultivation is also developed in agroecosystems whose management is characterized by family participation, including small farmers of rural settlements created by Instituto Nacional de Colonização e Reforma Agrária (INCRA). In view of the inclusion of family farming in a field that recently was dominated by large agribusiness companies, some questions arise about the maintenance of attributes that characterise this type of family agriculture management. This research aimed to assess the sustainability of family agroecosystems in São Romão settlement in Mossoró-RN, cultivated with melon. The study was conducted by the Framework for Evaluation of Natural Resources Management Systems Incorporating Sustainability Indicators (MESMIS), in ten agroecosystems of the mentioned settlement. The data were obtained from semi-structured interviews and field observations, so that the answers, considerations and comments made by settlers, were widely used to cycle through the six steps of the MESMIS evaluation. As a result of the work, were determined seven critical points affecting sustainability, being: water resources, soils, reliance on external inputs, biodiversity, quality of life, family income and community organizing, from which was derived twenty-three indicators that sought to reflect the actual state of sustainability of the agroecosystems