Plantas Alimentícias Não Convencionais (PANC): estudo etnobotânico no contexto da Associação Regional de Produtores Agroecológicos da Região Sul - ARPASUL

Abstract

Knowledge about traditional food species is related to food sovereignty and species maintenance in agroecosystems. In view of the importance of rescuing and preserving knowledge about unconventional food plants (PANC) in the quest to enhance their use and food diversification, the objective was to carry out an ethnobotanical study with farmers' families linked to the Regional Association of Agroecological Producers of the South Region - ARPASUL. Data were collected in family production units (UPF), between July 2018 and October 2019, through semi-structured interviews, based on a script, and free interviews, which included knowledge related to unconventional food plants, in addition to touring. -guide, where the farmers indicated the known plants and informed the name by which they knew them. The collection data were recorded in a field book and the botanical material collected was herborized and deposited at the ECT Herbarium of Embrapa Clima Temperado, Pelotas, RS. The absolute and relative frequencies of the study variables were calculated and the associations between the variables “type of use”, “frequency of use”, “cultivation”, “commercialization” and “owning the plant on the property”, were tested using the test Pearson's Chi-square test or Fisher's exact test. The strength of the associations was calculated by Cramer's V test. Significant difference values equal to or less than 5% probability of error were considered significant. There were 331 citations of unconventional food plants, identified as 86 species belonging to 40 families. The families Myrtaceae, 44 citations for 13 species, and Asteraceae, 46 citations for 12 species, had the highest number of citations. Most of the plants mentioned were known through their relatives or technical information. The leaf is the most used of the PANC and the main form of consumption is fresh. The results indicate that the fact that the farmer has a PANC on his property has a significant relationship with the frequency of consumption of this plant, therefore, when the farmer owns the plant, he tends to use it more frequently. It can also be observed that the fact that the farmer commercializes the plant has a significant relationship with the fact that he cultivates it. It is considered that the rescue of traditional knowledge about PANC demonstrated that a considerable part of the known plants is not consumed by the farmers, being the main cause of the disuse of the known PANC the lack of information of the parts that can be used and which are the ways of preparation. Therefore, actions that in addition to demystifying the use of these plants, build botanical, nutritional and gastronomic knowledge, in addition to providing contact with food produced from these plants, are essential, since the main form of acquisition of PANC is through farmers ecological.