Implantação de horta comunitária em um campus universitário: inclusão social e qualidade de vida

Abstract

This work consists of a project to implement a community garden on the Itabira campus of the Federal University of Itajubá. To this end, a description of the institution is carried out, and the course of elaboration of the proposal, which began in the dialogue with the workers on the campus. In its management, implementation and maintenance, a greater involvement with the university community and with the population is sought through extension actions, permeating the social, cultural and environmental dimensions of the university. The project's stages include activities to raise awareness and mobilize aspects of community management and sustainability, survey of human and material resources, exchange of experience among those interested in developing the garden, with the search for greater inclusion of the elderly population who will participate in the project. cultivation, with a view to transmitting cultural knowledge and strengthening group bonds. For the purpose of implementing the community garden, a management team was set up, responsible for preparing the physical space and coordinating the maintenance activities of the garden. The garden is planned as a space for observation, cultivation and leisure, and can contribute to teaching and actions on ecology, environmental education, integrated management of the unit's solid and organic waste, positively impacting the local environment and the health of those involved. The production and consumption of food from the garden may, in the future, contribute to income generation and as a way of encouraging healthy eating habits, in addition to promoting human/environment and human/human interaction, regardless of what role they occupy at the university. . The reduction in waste production, as well as its management, can be effected by the use and reuse of materials, both for the production of fertilizer and for the construction of beds and revitalization of underused spaces at the Unit. UNIFEI, through this integrated action between the university community and the city's population, even though these categories are difficult to define conceptually, will expand its list of extension actions, promoting the dissemination of good practices.