Reforma agrária popular e agroecológica do MST: experiências de assentados do PA abril vermelho, Santa Bárbara-Pa

Abstract

Since its formation, the Brazil's Landless Workers Movement (MST in Portuguese) fights for land reform. On national scenario, it is the main campesine organization against “latifundios” (large landed estates), rural workers exploitation, poverty and income concentration in rural areas. It materializes its existence through the method of occupying land for reform. This consolidates how they organize and form the encampments spatialization and territorialization, doing process of "campesinação" (making common urban people into farmers) and "recampesinação" (making urban people who came from rural areas back to being farmers). This works intends to analyze and reflect MST's agro-ecological production strategies for areas previously under monoculture production. The research field was Abril Vermelho settlement in Santa Bárbara-PA. Therefore, we characterized how MST thinks and organizes its proposal for an agro-ecological production and identified along with Abril Vermelho settlers, their production strategies, trying to analyze the MST influence within it. The interdisciplinary methodological approach consisted in theoretical framework from agrarian and social sciences, funded in campesine, social movements and agroecology concepts. The research techniques were indirect documentation and field research with participative observation. The research procedures consisted in historical analysis, production practices characterization, semi-structured interviews, transverse walks and photographical registers on land plots. The research results shows that in Abril Vermelho settlement, the MST agro-ecological proposal has contributed on consolidating organic and sustainable production systems. Thus, in this analysis scale, the agro-ecological basis for MST's Agrarian Reform is indispensable to the construction of an efficient counter-hegemonic production system that values traditional knowledge and autonomy of small farmers.