Conservação de base comunitária da agrobiodiversidade: um estudo sobre as casas de sementes crioula

Abstract

As a result of the social, cultural and political dynamics that feed its use and conservation in different regions, creole seeds have been managed by family farmers, land reform settlers, indigenous people and quilombolas over time. They constitute the stock of genetic diversity and meet one of the basic principles of Agroecology, or adapt to local conditions and tolerate certain environmental variations. Conservation of Creole seeds is carried out through Community Seed Houses (CSCs), which constitute a strategy that allows stock formation, ensuring that there is the necessary quantity for planting at the right time, in the case of the Semiarid, in the rainy season. The present study aimed to analyze the context of conservation of creole seeds in the state of Ceará, as well as its importance for the maintenance of agrobiodiversity. It was also sought to highlight problems and advances in the conservation of genetic resources in view of the genetics of agrobiodiversity managed by traditional and peasant populations; identify public policies and organizations that strengthen the rescue, conservation and use of indigenous seeds; and situate the history of the CSCs in Ceará, bringing relevant aspects about the Seed Exchange Network (RIS), a pioneer in this type of experience in the state, as well as the context of the CSCs in the municipality of Sobral. In methodological terms, the study assumed an exploratory research character and used document analysis to explore the official records of the RIS, in addition to official documents from government agencies and organizations that work in the field of Agroecology. With regard to data collection and analysis, the base provided by Cáritas was used, based on responses from family members to a student. The interpretation of the information was based on the Discourse Analysis technique. The results showed the growth in the number of CSCs, a factor evidenced by the action of farmers and farmers with organizations that can claim the implementation of specific policies, as well as strengthen the work of these CSCs. In Brazil, public policies have been created over time, as well as programs that favor the conservation of agrobiodiversity. In the state of Ceará, there was a considerable insertion of CSCs in its mesoregions, corresponding to Noroeste Cearense, which most structured new CSCs, and Sobral, the municipality of this mesoregion with the largest number of these houses. In turn, the loss of genetic diversity resulting from traditional monocultures, the fact that they do not have land of their own for cultivation, the low insertion of young people and the contamination of seeds by transgenics and hybrid seeds, are problems highlighted in the context of CSCs.