Adequacy to organic and environmental legislation: Case study of family farmers allocated in the watersheds of Maranhão and São Bartolomeu Rivers in Federal District - Brazil

Abstract

The objective of this research was to evaluate the adequacy to the organic and environmental legislation, by family farmers which adopted organic production practices.They were allocated at the watersheds of Maranhão and São Bartolomeu rivers in Federal District, Brazil. Two groups of 16 farmers were evaluated being divided as Group A – integrated by rural farmers with organic production systems, with Social Control Organizations (SCO) certification, they have active presence in the DF’s fruit and vegetable sector market; and Group B had as components rural farmers in transition to organic production, with SCO certification and presence in the DF’s fruit and vegetable market. The techniques of primary data collection included interviews with agricultural producers, and registration of the geographical locations of the properties in order to evaluate the adequacy to the environmental legislation. Results evidenced that group A presented more advanced levels of agroecological transition than group B; although the level of farmers’ knowledge about environmental legislation was shown as very low for both groups.The total of the properties from group A, and most of the properties from group B (n=6) are framed in the normative that require minimal percentage required for Legal Reserveareas (RL). Related to the size of Permanent Preservation Areas (APP) at the watershed it was observed that group A presented deficit, the majority of properties that were part of group B (n=6) were found to observe the legislation. It can be said that there is an associative character among these farmers, besides that, it was found they are contributing for the redesign and conservation of native vegetation at the areas of RL and APP located in the properties.