Avaliação de um sistema agroalimentar no semiárido brasileiro: um olhar econômico - ecológico no período da pandemia da COVID-19

Abstract

The research conducted a regressive comparative analysis of an agroecosystem developed by a family of four, practicing peasant farming in the semiarid region of Northeastern Brazil, on a Land Reform Settlement implemented by the National Institute of Colonization and Land Reform – INCRA in the district of Betânia, municipality of Itapipoca – CE. A study published previously, in which this author participated, did a comparison of the agroecosystem for two years: 2016, the first year of the formalization of the settlement, and 2019, following the implementation of agroecological practices. By means of a new analysis of the same agroecosystem, the idea was to assess the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the impacts caused by social isolation on the Agroecosystem Social Management Nucleus – NSGA, in terms of means of production, income generation, food security and wellbeing compared to the results of the previous evaluation. For assessment of the agroecosystem, the method used was the Ecological Economic Analysis of Agroecosystems developed by the National Articulation of Agroecology and AS-PTA – Family Agriculture and Agroecology. In the first analysis, food sovereignty, resilience and income generation were observed for the NSGA coming, mainly, from government incentives and implementation of sustainable farming techniques. In 2021, it was verified that the agroecosystem was affected directly by the pandemic due to the sanitary measures adopted by the governments, personal problems and, consequently, the alteration in the production of the agroecosystem, but the resilience and autonomy of the NSGA were sufficient to guarantee the family’s food security during this phase.