Returning the Timeline: Strengthening Agroecology and Reconstructing Histories in the Sítio Feijão Community

Juliana Peixoto,
Territorial Coordinator of the Sabiá Center in Agreste

The activity was coordinated by Raimundo Bertino and Juliana Peixoto, who are part of the technical team at the Sabiá Center. The educational tool gathers social, environmental and economic data and is part of the Action Research: ATER practices, knowledge construction and agroecology subjects, carried out by the Northeast ATER Agroecology Network.

In this first module of the research, we discussed the trajectory of the community through the Lume Study methodology. The timeline was built collectively and allows us to learn about the trajectory and understand the strategies that have been put in place inside and outside the community.

When they come back to return, the aim is to validate and add further information, while involving the families in the different stages of the study, so that they can recognize themselves as political subjects, key players in strengthening agroecology in the community and territory. The Feijão community was the scene of the first agroforestry projects assisted by the Sabiá Center in the agreste territory of Pernambuco and today they are a reference in the state.

At the same time as the families mention the facts to add to the line, there is a collective reflection on the impacts of what has been remembered, “we are traveling back in time,” says João Ribeiro, AGROFLOR’s coordinator.

The networking and socio-technical arrangements present in the spaces where common goods are managed, together with the innovations, the diversity of markets, especially the Agroecological Fairs and Institutional Markets (PAA and PNAE) show the agroecological strength of Sítio Feijão. Over the last four decades, the community has become a source of inspiration for farming organizations and families.