A adoção de práticas agroecológicas por camponeses: estudo de caso no oeste maranhense

Abstract

Agroecology has been defined as a science, a social movement and a set of alternative practices. Here we examine the last two dimensions. In order to study the social organization of Brazilian agroecology we used the political process theory, finding evidence that the Brazilian agroecological movement meets the requirements of this theoretical proposal for being considered as a social movement. In a second paper we focus on the problems surrounding technologies’ adoption by peasants in Western Maranhão. From a systems approach of the farm and through the construction of a typology of the production systems found in this region, we analyze the difficulties related to the adoption of agroecology, seen as a technical change from exogenous origin. Thus, we conducted participant observation, participatory rural appraisal and semi-structured interviews in 38 peasant families in three rural communities. We also explored the opportunity of integration between agroecology and the dynamics of transformation of production systems, as an endogenous innovation process. In the third paper we apply the concepts of strategy and tactics to peasants’ decision making about adoption of agroecological practices. Focusing on those who have chosen the farm diversification strategy, we find a variety of diversification strategies and that criteria used for strategic decision making are different from those applied for tactical decisions. In a fourth paper we try to understand the motivations of family farmers in Western Maranhão to make their productive and technological choices, understanding the historical decisive factors for the differentiation of production systems, which caused only some of them had the opportunity to join the agroecological practices. Through retrospective analysis, we identified two transformation vectors, contributing to family farmers deem different answers to the same influences from the environment. External variables, attached to productive family decisions, influence the historical path of the farms. We found that not always the promotion of agroecology is consistent with peasant families’ logic. However, effective technical support and permanent interest groups about this innovation, perform an environment in which peasants feel more confident to adopt agroecological practices.