Banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO: CRISTIANE GENEROSO DOS SANTOS

AGROBIODIVERSITY: Creole seeds, agroecology and peasantry in the municipality of Bonito, Agreste de Pernambuco

Family farming; Sovereignty and Food Security; empowerment; Collective Organization; Agrobiodiversity

Peasants in the municipality of Bonito, rural mesoregion of Pernambuco, who are agroecological producers and sell in the market of life, located in the center of the city, have the tradition of saving creole seeds of various cultivars, both local and from other regions. The forms of seed conservation are individual and particular and, in dialogue with them, they expressed a desire to organize themselves to select, preserve, conserve and multiply their seeds collectively, due to their importance in the process of building and strengthening agroecology. Historically in the territories, after the second world war, in the 1960s and 1970s, when the green revolution was established, profound transformations and changes took place in the countryside, in agriculture, and in peasant families, causing losses of biodiversity, autonomy, sovereignty, food security. and causing, fragility in the way of life of the peasantry. In this process, the creole varieties underwent genetic alterations and were replaced by hybrid and genetically improved and modified materials, such as transgenic seeds. Since the emergence of agriculture, creole seeds have been managed and adapted by peasants, based on their local, traditional conditions, maintaining biodiversity over the years. Such changes greatly affected peasant life, with creole cultivars being an affirmation of the culture and resistance of the peasantry, as they represent the heritage of these peoples. The present study intends to promote a process of organization of peasants linked to the market of life in order to contribute to the selection, classification, storage, conservation, preservation and multiplication of creole seeds, as a strengthening of the peasantry. It is also expected the contribution in the agroecological transition process, the maintenance of biodiversity and the contribution to the territorial development in the municipality. The methodology used will be qualitative and quantitative, based on planning and participatory research in the field with existing and rescued varieties. It is intended to build as a final product the organization and formation of a community seed bank, expanding the network of creole seed multipliers, linking autonomy, sovereignty and food security, empowerment of agroecological peasants consolidating agroecology and territorial development in that municipality.