Os caminhos da transição agroecológica : desafios e avanços da agroecologia na região do Vale do Rio Pardo - RS/Brasil.

Abstract

In this research, we seek to address the challenges and advances in agroecology, based on the perception of peasant family farmers in relation to the agroecological transition process in the Vale do Rio Pardo region, RS/Brazil. The “Green Revolution” and the process of modernization of agriculture provided the development of technologies that resulted in greater efficiency in agricultural production, significantly increasing food production. However, world hunger has not been solved, displacing the humanitarian discourse of increasing food production to end hunger in developing countries, causing harmful effects to the environment. This model is unsustainable for regional development. We understand that the way to overcome this model goes through the process of agroecological transition, an evolutionary conversion process, used by farmers in the conversion of conventional agroecosystems to ecologically based ones. Using phenomenology as a method of approach, and supported by the dimensions of agroecology, we investigate, from the perception of peasant family farmers, the challenges and cultural and institutional advances faced during the agroecological transition. Among them, the initiatives of farmers regarding the sale of their products in rural fairs, in addition to commercialization in institutional food programs, such as PAA and PNAE, stand out. However, the constant cuts in resources from the federal government have undermined such public policies, and thus, the decrease in the volume of food sold by farmers. The support and participation of technical assistance institutions in the follow-up process still require more qualification in the agroecological transition theme, but their performance has already been important to overcome several current challenges. Likewise, strengthening the work of cooperatives and associations, from monitoring the production and organization of family properties to marketing logistics, one of the main challenges reported by the interviewed families. However, the difficulties found in the relationship with the surroundings of the property generate important challenges, which it was possible to overcome based on the example and the results obtained with the production.