Agroecological spaces are essential for good food in urban centers

Marli Gondim
Agronomist, Master in Agricultural and Cultural Geography and PhD student in Geography

The fairs or agroecological spaces that are in several neighborhoods of the urban space of the city of Recife, since the mid-1990s, in addition to constituting places of commercialization of products from agroecological family farming, constitute environments of cultural and social experience. .

I live in the neighborhood of Graças and I buy vegetables, fruits, vegetables, as well as breads, cakes, juices, jam, hominy, sweets, pastries, sandwiches, honey and other processed foods at Espaço Agroecológico das Graças and at Santo Amaro. In addition to being a member of Agroecoloja , a cooperative recently created to sell agroecological products throughout the week and enable the continuous flow of sales of products from female farmers in the Zona da Mata and Agreste region of our state.

Agroecoloja sells fruits and vegetables, as well as providing access to other processed products from family farming and cooperatives, such as popcorn, sesame, wheat, babassu oil, rice, linseed, brown sugar, rice flakes, tapioca starch, cornmeal for couscous, as well as eggs, bottled butter, butter cheese, yogurt, cashew nuts, coffee, tahini , just to name a few. In addition to many processed products that are also at fairs and agroecological spaces. Sometimes I also stop by the Espaço Agroecológico da Várzea to see some farmers and buy other little things that I can’t find in these fairs I attend weekly. I supply my house with agroecological and organic products, on Wednesday (Espaço de Santo Amaro), on Saturday (Espaço das Graças) and, between Tuesday and Saturday, I can access all the products available at Agroecoloja.

It is thanks to these women and men who take care of the land and produce healthy food that we, consumers of the city, can today have the privilege of accessing products without the exclusive mark of agribusiness. If it weren’t for Nete, Doutor, Cristina and Amadeu, Mocinha, João and Antônio Custódio, Rejane, Chirlene, Lenir (a great companion for so many years), Rafael, Lon, Luzia, Adriano, Elivelto, Camila and Felipe, my life as an agroecologist and consumer of agroecological products would be very difficult. I live in an apartment, I have the privilege of having a balcony, but I am not able to produce what I consume. At most, four herbs for tea, one chives. Despite being an agronomist and the daughter of a farmer, I don’t have, at this moment, the space and time to dedicate myself to the regular production of vegetables, fruits and other foods.

My choice for agroecological products is in my political militancy for agroecological family and peasant agriculture. And it is thanks to these women and men, to whom I entrust the production of the food I consume, that I enjoy health and the pleasure of contributing to Agroecology!