Unconventional food plants in homegardens from Fazendinha Community, Niterói municipality, Rio de Janeiro state, southeastern Brazil

Abstract

The Fazendinha Community is located at Sapê neighborhood, Niterói municipality, Rio de Janeiro state, and has approximately 500 families, some of which have lived in the region for about 100 years while others have arrived there only recently, especially after the great populational growth of the last six years. Although located in an expanding urban area, the Fazendinha region still maintains many rural features. We performed an ethnobotanical survey of food plants at Fazendinha Community, aiming to identify the species of unconventional food plants used as human food or food plants whose use remains neglected. For that, semi-structured interviews were conducted with former residents of the community. A total 154 citations of food plants were registered (93 species), of which 125 were for human consumption and 16 for animal consumption. Eleven species were also cited in other use categories, such as medicinal and ornamental. Almost half of the mentioned species (44) can be considered unconventional food plants. The Fazendinha Community is a potential center of organic food production in Niterói. Therefore, it is urgent to articulate small farmers therein and provide them with support for awareness-raising initiatives regarding the importance of homegardens as food-producing sites. That would allow for rescuing homegardens from the situation of abandonment to which they have been slowly driven, thereafter enabling their enormous production potential to be rediscovered.