O Projeto Mandalla no contexto extrativista/neoextrativista: uma avaliação das mandalas implantadas na cidade de Pentecoste/CE

Abstract

This research evaluated in depth the Projeto Mandalla (PM) in the state of Ceará, despite being absorbed in the Brazilian extractivist/neo-extractivist context. Created in 2007 by the Government of the State of Ceará, it can be considered a long-standing public policy and, in addition, it manages to encompass the social, economic and environmental areas of the semi-arid region of Ceará. It is coordinated by the Secretariat of Agrarian Development of the State of Ceará (SDA) and executed by the Technical Assistance and Rural Extension Company of Ceará (EMATERCE). The project aims to develop family farming based on agroecological concepts, bringing to light the economy and efficiency for planting and, concomitantly, sustainability. Furthermore, the PM is configured as a Social Innovation (SI). The pioneering bias of the PM in Brazil and its capacity to encompass some objectives projected by the United Nations (UN) in its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can be seen. The evaluation of a public policy is a relevant tool for public management, since this procedure contributes to possibilities of intervention and restructuring, reorganization of the policy with the essential function of improving its development process. Based on this retrospective, this research is of a qualitative nature and evaluated the Mandalla Project in light of the In-Depth Evaluation perspective, proposed by Rodrigues (2011), for establishing a closer dialogue with the proposition of economic-ecological evaluation. This research had as its primary objective to know if the PM is sustainable from the perspective of the social actors involved in the public policy, that is, if it transcends the conceptualization of Sustainable Development that has as its theoretical support the perspectives of the Green Economy and Environmental Economy that incorporate neoliberal evaluation models. The specific objectives of this work are to evaluate the content of the project; analyze its institutional trajectory; analyze the context of its application and investigate in a temporal and territorial way. The research was developed in the city of Pentecoste, in the districts of Croatá dos Carneiros, Erva Moura, Miranda de Baixo and Sítio do Meio. The data were collected through bibliographic research, documentary data search, analysis of institutional documents, and a semi-structured interview was prepared for application to the social actors involved, that is, the project creator, members of SDA and EMATERCE, as well as farmers who received the project in the city of Pentecoste. After evaluation, it was established that the Projeto Mandalla is Sustainable, but with some reservations. Despite the unsatisfactory evaluation in most mandalas in the municipality, it is clear that the project has a virtuous attempt to establish Sustainability. However, to generate this sustainable dynamic, an infrastructure is necessary for the construction and continuity of the mandalas. The project has a detailed script, but it requires continuous monitoring by highly qualified people, which did not occur for years. After all, only one person was responsible for several mandalas over the years and today there are only 4 professionals for more than 1,000 mandalas implemented. In addition, it is clear that the lack of water is a problem for several communities in the state. This is what happens in Pentecoste and was a recurring observation of the city's mandala leaders. As a suggestion, there are two practical proposals: 1) the construction of deep wells as support and 2) much later training in the construction of the mandala with the idea of "planting water", based on the practice of Ernst Götsch and/or Ciclovida in Pentecoste.