Migrantes rurais, quintais urbanos e soberania alimentar

Abstract

From the 1960s, a highly concentrated land structure was consolidated in the North of Minas Gerais. The so-called modernization of agriculture, through the "Green Revolution", benefited large producers and marginalized peasants. As a result, in the 1960s and 1970s, there was a strong outflow of rural population, which in this region was concentrated in the city of Montes Claros. These migrants from rural backgrounds brought their own experiences and environmental knowledge, trained in their communities of origin, and from there occupied urban spaces, forming productive yards. The objective of this study was analyzing the production of food in urban backyards of Montes Claros, and investigating the contribution of these yards in the city. The study was carried out in nine urban backyards, associating two research techniques: interviews with semi-oriented questionnaires, and the census of the cultivated plants in each yard. The results revealed that these urbanized farmers constructed different ways of dealing with natural resources, becoming a specialist in managing small areas for food production in the city. The ethnobotanical surveys revealed the cultivation of a multiplicity of species that are used in family feeding, indicating the importance of agriculture practiced by these rural migrants for the food and nutritional sovereignty (FNS) of families.