Use of agro-ecological practices in building sustainable projects for land reform: a case study in the settlement Sepé Tiaraju - SP

Abstract

The settlement Sepé Tiaraju, located in the sugarcane region of Ribeirão Preto (SP), constitutes the first modality PDS (Project on Sustainable Development) in São Paulo and has agroecology as the center of the array technology. Within this proposal, the use of agroforestry systems (SAFs) is establishing itself as an alternative economic stimulus to forest restoration and incorporation of the tree component in the productive systems for farmers. This paper aims to raise the experiences of SAFs executed by the settlers on their lots and how farming practices developed by them have contributed to the construction of a new settlement model. The research, using techniques of participatory rural appraisal, covered a range of 32 families. It was observed that with increasing diversification of crops in agroforestry settlers increased the stability of agroecosystems, resulting in less dependence on external inputs. Also found that more advanced stages of agroecological transition is being made by settlers who use SAFs