Avaliação de sustentabilidade em agroecossistemas de base familiar e em transição agroecológica na região sul do Rio Grande do Sul

Abstract

This work was developed in 15 family farms, located in seven cities, which integrated a participative research project on net reference to family farm and ecological based agriculture in the south region of Rio Grande do Sul State, coordinated by Embrapa Clima Temperado Pelotas – Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation. The general goal of this study was to evaluate the sustainability of different agroecosystems that integrated this net reference. The method to achieve the goals of this research was based in the MESMIS Framework for Assessing the Sustainability of Natural Resources Management Systems proposal, executed in an interdisciplinary and participatory dynamic, approaching sustainability attributes and its environmental, social and economical dimensions. During the development of the work, seven composite sustainability indicators were built: water resource, soil quality, adaptation to new agroecosystems, work and their relations, self-management, diversity and economic situation. These indicators were measured through semi-structured interviews, questionnaires, field observations and laboratorial analysis. With the use of this method, with qualitative and quantitative techniques, a detailed agroecosystems description was presented, determined their critical points and quantified, discussed, their performances. Through the construction of radial graphics, it was possible to evaluate these agroecosystems in an integrated way, presenting their levels of sustainability, based on the sustainability conception that was identified among agriculture families and the theory that was the base of this study.