TRANSIÇÃO AGROECOLÓGICA NO TERRITÓRIO DO BOLSÃO, TRÊS LAGOAS - MATO GROSSO DO SUL, BRASIL

Abstract

The socio-environmental impacts in the countryside, which are at the root of agri-food crisis on a planetary scale, were generated in Brazil from the rural development model known as the Green Revolution. From 1960 onwards, this agricultural paradigm sought to modernize the latifundia through technical changes without changing the land structure. The counterproductive consequences of this agriculture archetype have grown, such as: land concentration, soil erosion, desertification, pesticide pollution and biodiversity loss. As a counterpoint, the theme “peasantry and agroecology” emerges worldwide as an alternative to the conventional agriculture model, and the construction of this new productive paradigm begins in Brazil. Despite the hegemony of capitalist land ownership focused on livestock and silviculture in the Rural Territory of Bolsão, there is, contradictorily, the presence of small peasant family property focused on self-consumption and production/commercialization of surpluses. The creation of Agroecology Nucleus of Bolsão-UFMS (NEA-BOLSÃO) is the result of this reality and represents the articulation that began, in 2013, between the Agrarian Geography Laboratory, of UFMS/Campus Três Lagoas, the Sociology and Peasant Studies Institute (ISEC), University of Cordoba-Spain, and a group of families in agroecological transition from "20 de Março" Agrarian Reform Settlement in Três Lagoas. This article aims to rescue this ongoing experience of agroecological transition at "20 de Março", promoted by NEA-Bolsão, analyzing the following actions implemented in agroecological reference units: short food supply chains, fairs to rescue native species, courses and workshops on syrups and biofertilizers and associativism encouraging.