(In) Segurança alimentar em comunidades quilombola do Município de Abaetetuba, Pará

Abstract

This research presents the analysis and understanding of the different strategies of Food and Nutritional Security - SAN developed by the families of the Quilombola Community of Baixo Acaraqui, city of Abaetetuba, Pará. The community is facing changes in their eating habits due of the reduction of natural resources (hunting animals, fishes and shrimps), decreasing of the area for agricultural production, increase of the commercial value of production and increase on spending at manufactured goods. From a qualitative approach and using the following procedures: participant observation, semi-structured interviews and photographic record, free list and workshops on eating habits. We sought, through the integration between the researcher and the social group in question, to appropriate of some information to enable an understanding about the community and their production and food practices. Among the practices developed by families, we observed: a) increase of the production for the marketing, reducing the diversity of local production, reducing the self-sufficiency of families and making production unstable in the face of fluctuations of the local market; b) increasing in the importance of extraction of açaí as an economic factor of income generator; c) increasing the hardship in acquiring locally produced foods (fishes, shrimps, hunting animals); d) Substitution of natural products (natural juices, teas) for industrial products (coffee, soda) by raising spending on food and the need to generate income; e) the increase in purchasing power, stimulated both by the increase of the marketing and the social benefits received (bolsa família, aposentadoria and seguro defeso), encouraged the replacement of local production of some products (rice and beans) for your purchase on local businesses. This reality has significantly influenced the production practices and eating habits of the families of the Quilombola Community of Baixo Acaraqui, influencing in production decisions and in the acquisition of food, making families increasingly dependent on trade and income generation to ensuring the food and nutritional security of the quilombola families.