Agricultura urbana em Montes Claros, MG: funcionalidades, produção e comercialização

Abstract

The growth of the urban population and the multiforms adopted in cities comprise the most interesting phenomena of space geography. However, these phenomena have caused mismatches in the environmental, social and economic spheres. On the other hand, activities such as urban agriculture bring a new perspective to the city, due to its functionalities and contributions, in several factors, to the city dynamics. In this sense, this research had the objective of analyzing urban agriculture practices aimed at commercialization in the municipality of Montes Claros - MG. Specifically, it was intended to map the production sites for commercialization of Urban Agriculture (AU) in Montes Claros - MG; analyze the functions of UA in production and marketing in Montes Claros - MG; identify the bottlenecks and potentialities of the AU in Montes Claros - MG; and to elaborate a proposal of character encouraging and supporter of the AU for Montes Claros. In order to reach the proposed objectives, a descriptive qualitative approach was carried out by means of a multisite study, in which the tools used were documental research, interview and field observations. The analysis allowed to infer that, despite the existence of urban agriculture with a commercial objective, it contributes not only to the production, circulation and consumption of sustainable food, it lacks public support. When contemplating this practice in the city of Montes Claros, one can perceive a (re) production of the rural in the urban, in order to guarantee generation of income, well-being and contributions focused on the environment and the consumption dynamics of city dwellers. Thus, in view of the observations and information collected in the field, proposals were made within the university and also of a technological nature for the support, promotion, encouragement and strengthening of urban agriculture in Montes Claros.