Governança ambiental e segurança alimentar: a agricultura familiar no Alto Solimões, AM

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze the structural processes of the environmental governance and food safety in rural communities of Benjamin Constant municipality, Amazonas state, Brazil. Based on the complex systems paradigm, a case study was carried out, using the following sources of evidence: fieldwork, direct observation, semi-structured interview, and focus groups with children and adults. The social organization is based on kinship and communal ownership of natural resources, including tenure, use and management of extractivism spaces. The families‟ units of production have weakly tied to the market, and, therefore, less dependent on it. The reciprocity logic motivates not only a large share of agriculture production, but, the resource management and factors of production, as well. Therefore, reciprocity leads to agriculture production that is socially motivated. The families, including children, recognize and perceive the landscape units and the system components, showing a deep knowledge of not only the homegardens, but the entire environment. Adopted agriculture practices by the family farmers follow the management systems, integrating agriculture to accessed environments. Food self-sufficiency level of families unities is 70% of products total consumption, and, therefore, access to food items is mainly non-monetary. The existing social organizations at the communities favor people participation, regarding environmental decision-making. The concept of Environmental Governance, constructed in this study, includes system elements the human adaptability, accessed units of landscape, diversification of agriculture production, social organization for production and marketing of goods, use of common property resources, and reciprocity economy. Main results, driven from these system elements, considered indicators, show that the traditional production strategies used by agriculture families of Alto Solimões region adopt a governance system that leads to both socio-cultural reproduction and ecosystems conservation.